Mess of Me
by rawritscasey
Summary: "He looked so broken standing out there in the rain, all bruised and bloodied. I didn't have the heart to slam the door in his face. Maybe he wasn't the terrifying man that Eli and Adam made him out to be." FLARE/ECLARE Update: Epilogue is up!
1. Louder Than Thunder

**A/N**: I know that so many people are going to do a Flare story after the 2011 promo of Degrassi since, OMG, drama! So I decided that I would add my own story into the mix since I cannot resist. I love Eli and all, but come on, FLARE! Oh my drama!  
Also, a note on my other story, The World as We Knew It, it is going on hiatus for a little bit. The ideas in my head have stopped momentarily. Sorry guys.

Okay, without further ado, I present you with **Mess of Me** [_Yes, I named this story after the song by Switchfoot, a truly wonderful band._]

* * *

_One  
_Louder Than Thunder

An ear shattering _boom _sounded throughout my house, cutting the stone silence. My pencil jumped from my grasp and landed with a small crack on the floor. My heart was now beating at an erratic pace and I clutched my chest, willing it to slow. I took deep breaths and looked up from my homework.

The world outside the windows of my living room was gloomy and gray. It was a rainy Saturday afternoon and I had gotten a ton of homework to complete over the weekend. Eli had called earlier to ask if I wanted to come over to his house and hang out with him and Adam, but I had reluctantly refused.

My heartbeat seemed to be going back to normal after the sudden thunder clap. I breathed a sigh of relief and bent down to pick up my pencil. It was one of Eli's pencils. He had borrowed it to me earlier that week during English and I had 'accidentally' not given it back to him. I smiled at the memory and set the tip of the lead down onto the paper I was writing on. I had been in the middle of a complicated math equation. I groaned when I tried to remember the work that I had been keeping in my head. I couldn't remember. So that meant I had to redo the whole freaking problem. I sighed and began to write the work down this time, so I'll be prepared next time.

_Ring Ring Ring_

The pencil, once again, jumped from my fingers and landed on the couch beside me this time. I stood up suddenly and huffed, getting a little angry at all of these distractions. The phone continued to ring loudly through the house. Goosebumps formed up and down my exposed arms and I reached over to the armrest of the couch to retrieve my gray cotton blazer. I shoved my arms into the sleeves and straightened the blazer over my dark golden short-sleeved pattern tee.

I strode over to the telephone and checked the caller ID. I didn't recognize the number but I picked it up anyway since I was home alone and there was no one else to answer it.

"Hello?" I asked the other line.

"Hey Clare," my best friend Allie chirped.

"Hey Allie! How have you been?" I asked her. I hadn't spoken to her in nearly a week.

"I have some awesome news," she told me, ignoring my question.

"What is it?" I asked.

"You better be sitting down because it's big," she warned me. Now I was very curious. Abiding her cautions, I sat down on the stool by my kitchen counter.

"Okay, you're killing me. What's going on?" I asked anxiously.

"I'm going back to Degrassi!" she shouted into the phone, causing me to tear the receiver from my ear in an attempt to not become deaf.

"Oh my gosh Allie! That's amazing! What about your other school?" I asked. Allie had enrolled in an all-girls school across town because she felt that boys were ruining her high school years.

"I miss the drama. It is so boring at this school! Nothing exciting happens," she informed me.

"I thought that was part of the reason why you left Degrassi, so you wouldn't get caught up in the drama," I asked her.

"No, no, no. This time, I won't get involved in the drama. I'll be a good girl, just like you," she told me.

A good girl? Maybe that would have applied to me a few months ago. Before I told off Jenna, skipped class, got a piercing without my parents permission, violated school dress codes for a day, got involved in a knife fight, and started dating Elijah Goldsworthy. I think maybe my good-girl reputation has been tarnished since all of those actions took place. I mean, I may still wear a cross around my neck, a purity ring around my finger, and wear conservative clothes. But I'm not exactly all too innocent anymore. Or maybe that's just what I tell myself.

"I'd like to see you try Allie," I scoffed. I know I should be supportive of my friend, but if you knew her, you would know that she would never become a good girl. She loves to make drama. She loves excitement. And that will not change about her after being at an all-girls school for a couple months. Sorry Allie, but it's the truth.

"No, I swear! Maybe you could help me; show me the way to be good," she said. I pulled the phone away from my mouth and tried to hold back the laugh that threatened to rip from my throat. I'm sorry but 'show me the way to be good' was hilarious!

_Ding dong_

I let out a yelp at the sudden sound of the doorbell. I instantly got scared, as I always do when the doorbell rings and I'm home alone. I pressed the phone against my ear again.

"What was that?" she asked me.

"Doorbell. I've got to go see who it is, hold on," I told her and got up from the stool. I clutched the phone to my head and slowly walked over to the front door. I took small stepped and I barely heard my footsteps.

I picked up the pace and walked over to the door. I grasped the handle and twisted.

As soon at the door opened, I was hit with a cold wind and a couple drops of water hit my face. It was raining pretty hard outside so it was hard to see the figure that stood on my front porch. Then the figure took a step forward and I almost dropped the phone.

"Fitz," I gasped. He stood, looming over me with a line of red across his right cheekbone.

"What?" Allie yelled at me from the other line. Oops, she didn't need to know that.

"I'll call you back, Allie," I told her.

"Don't you dare hang up on me Clare Edwards! Is Fitz seriously at your house right-" I hung up on her. I wasn't trying to be mean, but I didn't want to handle that right then. I dropped the phone from my ear back kept it clutched in my hand.

"Hello Clare," Fitz greeted me. And, as if on cue, a flash of blinding white lightning filled the sky and shined more light on this terrifying man in front of me.

Well, this was unexpected...

* * *

Ohmigosh, I know. That was super short and frankly, the writing kinda sucked. But I swear the next chapter will be so much better.

Reviews will be rewarded with virtual cookies!


	2. Rules of Attraction

**A/N**: Does _Teen Nick _really expect us to wait until February for new Degrassi episodes? Are you freaking kidding me? Well whatever. I'll keep on writing this and reading other Degrassi FF's until that faithful day; 2.11.11.

I think I may literally count the minutes…

*sigh* Anyways, I present you with chapter two. I hope you enjoy!

P.S. This chapter was inspired by the song Rules of Attraction by _Joe Brooks_. I recommend that you listen to the beauty that is Joe Brooks's voice! *swoon*

* * *

_Two  
_Rules of Attraction

xx

The cold wind whipped my cinnamon colored curls every which way. The front of my shirt became damp with rain water. My calves were becoming numb because they were exposed to the cool temperatures of the rainstorm. I clutched the receiver in my right hand, holding it in a grip that might break the phone.

I couldn't believe that Fitz, the bully that beat up Eli and Adam on numerous occasions, was standing on my front porch. His dark eyes looked desperate and he looked as if he was about to collapse at any given moment. This was a condition that I never expected to see Fitz in, ever.

Blood ran down his right cheek from a gash on his cheekbone. His knuckles black and blue and bloody. I saw faint bruises on his neck that disappeared down into his soaked gray hoodie. What in the heck had happened to him?

"Fitz, what.." I wasn't able to finish that question because I was still in complete shock. Fitz was the last person in the world that I had expected to see on my doorstep today, or ever for that matter.

His breathing was heavy and he stumbled to the side a little bit.

"Help me," he croaked. Then he lost his balance and tumbled forward into me. His body crashed into mine at full force. I wrapped my arms around his wet body and took a step back to catch my own balance so we didn't fall to the floor.

"Oh my gosh Fitz, what happened to you?" I asked him. I pushed his body off of mine and helped him get his stance back. I kept a steady hand on his shoulder.

"Please help me," he said again, sounding helpless, "I have no one else to go to," he told me.

He looked so broken standing out there in the rain, all bruised and bloodied. I didn't have the heart to slam the door in his face. Maybe he wasn't the terrifying man that Eli and Adam had made him out to be.

"Sure, yeah," I said and slung an arm around his shoulder and supported him as I lead him into my house. I kicked the door shut with my foot.

Fitz groaned into my ear as I began to lead him into my living room. It was not easy fete though; Fitz was very heavy. The rain from his clothes were soaking into my clothes where we were touching. A shiver ran down my spine. I lead him to my couch and gently laid him down on the cushions. He whimpered when he set his head down on the armrest.

"Is anyone else here?" he asked. He looked up at me and my heart broke. I had never seen such a broken soul in my life. Not even when Eli told me about his hoarding problems did I feel this heartbroken. Fitz, well, he had this completely desperate look in his red rimmed eyes.

"No, it's just me," I told him. Then I got scared. What was I supposed to do with him? How was I suppose to help him?

It was also then that I noticed how completely soaked his clothes were, and the way he was shaking in them.

"Hey, how about we get you out of those wet clothes," I said. He looked me over and slowly nodded. But he didn't move.

"I think you're gonna have to help me," he half smiled. I was afraid of this.

I lowered my hands to the bottom of his gray hoodie and I pulled the cloth up. He raised his arms and I slipped the hoodie from his body. I threw the hoodie to the floor, which dropped in a heap.

Next, I looked at him in his plain white tee, which did no good at hiding what was under it now that it was wet. The wet shirt clung to his defined abs. He probably got them during his many years of beating people senseless. I shook that thought away and began to peel the fabric from his body. He raised his arms once again and I dropped his tee on top of his hoodie.

There were many purple bruises all up and down his torso. I wanted to ask him how they got there, but he didn't seem to want to have a heart-to-heart at the moment. So I stopped myself.

So now Fitz was lying, shirtless and soaking wet, on my living room couch. This was an image that I never thought I would see play out in front of me.

I froze.

"Maybe you should keep your pants on," I said nervously. He let out a strangled laugh.

"Come on Clare, I'm freezing. I swear, I won't try anything on you, unless you see something you like," he flirted. I rolled my eyes. He is injured and yet, he is still capable of making dirty comments! I scoffed.

"Fine, but this doesn't mean anything," I told him sternly. He managed a small smile.

"I never said it would," he retorted. I rolled my eyes again and stared down at him. I reached for his belt and unbuckled it. I pulled it from his jeans and tossed it to the forming pile of wet clothes on my living room floor.

I froze once again at his zipper. Call me a prude, but I had never taken a guys pants off before. So excuse me for getting a little shaky and nervous.

"It's okay," Fitz told me, noticing my dilemma. I took a deep breath and unbuttoned and unzipped his pants. I hooked my fingers around either side of his belt loops and pulled downward. Fitz kicked his shoes off so I could get his pants off his legs easier.

Now Fitz was left in just his boxers, which clung to a certain something that I averted my gaze from.

"You can keep those on," I told him. He smiled again.

"But I'm so cold," he stated. I sighed.

"Okay, I'm going to go get you something of my dad's to wear while your clothes dry," I said, "I'll be right back."

I turned on my heel and started to head toward the stairs when the phone began to ring. I turned back around and grabbed the receiver from the coffee table, where I had set it down to help Fitz. I gazed down at the caller ID and a little throw up traveled up my throat.

"Who is it?" Fitz asked.

"None of your business," I stated and bolted out of the living room and up the stairs. Once I reached my parents bedroom, I shut the door behind me and pressed the 'talk' button.

"What's up Eli?" I asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Please tell me that what Allie told me just now it not true," Eli said from the other line. I cleared my throat and started to form a lie in my head, but I couldn't lie to Eli.

"It's not what you're thinking. He's hurt," I told him. I heard a crashing sound on his end, like he knocked something over.

"Are you kidding me? You let that creep into your home!" Eli practically screamed into the phone.

"Eli, would you calm down!" I told him, "He needs help and I can't just send him back out in this rain!"

"Yes, actually, you can! You know what he's like, Clare. He's up to something and I'm not going to let him hurt you," Eli said to me. Now I starting to get annoyed with him. Seriously, Eli can be so stubborn sometimes. Just like me.

"My heart isn't made of stone like yours is, Eli! I can't not help him. Yes, he's done some stupid things in the past. And, as I recall, so have you. So maybe it's time to move the hell on!" I screamed that last sentence. I didn't want to fight with Eli right now, but he was being such an ass.

"You really are a saint, aren't you?" Eli said, sounding super annoyed. I scoffed.

"Look, I can't really talk right now. I'll call you later and we can talk about the rest, okay?" I offered, but he was having none of it.

"No, I'm coming over right now and making sure he doesn't do anything," he said. I sighed.

"I don't need your help, Eli. I can handle this," I told him.

"As I recall, I didn't need your help to fight my battles with Fitz, but you intervened anyway," he said. I wanted to scream at him. But I bit my lip and groaned.

"I'm not going to let you in," I told him.

"Oh yes you will. I'll see you in a bit," he said.

"Eli, what, no!" I cried into the phone. But it was too late. The line went dead. I let out an exasperated scream and threw the phone on the bed.

"You've got to be kidding me," I thought out loud. My hand clutched my hair and I started to pull on it. I groaned again.

I turned around and went over to my dad's dresser. I'd better get Fitz dressed before Eli gets here, or there will be hell to pay. I opened the first drawer and grabbed the first pair on jeans that I saw. Then I found a pale blue button-up shirt the seemed a bit big, but it would do. Then I found a white undershirt. I also took some of my dad's boxers. As much as it grossed me out, I couldn't let him stay in his wet boxers.

I hugged the clothes to my chest and exited my parents bedroom. Of course, they no longer shared it. My mother was away, staying at the condo that she and dad shared. It was my dad's turn to stay here with me in my home. Sure, it was very depression that my parents were no longer together, but at least I got to stay in my home. My real home. The one I had grown up in and developed so many memories in. I couldn't imagine living somewhere else, much less calling some other house 'home'.

I descended down the stairs and circled around to the living room. I approached Fitz, who had his eyes closed.

"Fitz," I said. His eyes shot open and he gazed at me.

"Oh hey. You got the clothes," he stated the obvious. I gave him a smile. He still looked so beaten and broken. I should have been thinking that he deserved this; for him to be beaten up. But I would never wish that on anyone. Not even Fitz.

"Yep, and dry underwear too," I told him, holding up the boxers. He gave me a sly smile.

"Did you now," he said. I rolled my eyes. I extended my arm out and gave him the boxers.

"I'm not putting them on for you, no matter how hurt you are," I told him. He chuckled to himself and took the underwear from my hand. I turned around to avoid seeing him.

"You are so innocent, Clare Edwards," Fitz said from behind me. I sighed.

"What were you yelling about on the phone? I heard you all the way from down here," he told me.

"Oh yeah, we may have some company in a bit so you may want to get dressed faster," I told him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him toss his wet boxers onto the pile of his wet clothes.

'Oh my God, Fitz is naked on my couch,' I thought to myself. My face scrunched up in disgust.

"Who would that be?" he asked.

"Um, I think it'd be best if you didn't know," I told him. I heard him pulling on his boxers on the couch.

"Can you hand me the rest of my clothes?" he asked. I turned around and tried to avert my gaze from him. He was half naked and lying in front of me. Oh, if Eli knew about this particular detail…

I handed him the shirts and jeans. I was about ready to help him, when he pushed my hands away.

"I've got this," he told me. He sat up and pulled the jeans over his legs. They were quite baggy on him, but they looked strangely good on him. He bent over and retrieved his belt from the ground and laced it into the dry pair of jeans. Then he grabbed the white undershirt and pulled it on over his head with a sudden ease. He grabbed for the blue button-up when I stopped him.

"You suddenly look like you feel better," I said. He smiled.

"Yeah, I just wanted to see if I could get you to take my clothes off. I succeeded," he admitted. I smacked his left shoulder. He winced and yelped in pain. It was then that I realized that I had just smacked a scary-looking blackened bruise on his shoulder.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said quickly.

"It's okay," he told me.

"You're an asshole, Fitz," I hissed.

"Wow, I never thought that I'd hear Saint Clare swear," he commented, clearly amused.

"I'm serious," my voice began to raise.

"Whoa, calm down," he said. He picked up the shirt and shoved his arms into the sleeves.

"So, please enlighten me, who exactly is coming over here?" he asked me. I shook my head. I really didn't want to tell him. I didn't want to know what was going to happen when Eli showed up and saw Fitz sitting in my living room.

"Is it emo boy?" he asked. I gave him a sympathetic look.

"Crap," he sighed.

"Exactly. I tried to talk him out of it, but he insisted. Look, I don't want you two fighting. I will kick you out of here if you do. So please, make nice," I told him firmly. I stared him down.

"I'll do my best. But if he starts something-"

"Then be the bigger man and ignore him," I finished for him. I was _not _going to have a repeat of Vegas Night in my own home. Fitz rolled his eyes.

He finished buttoning up the shirt and tucked in one side of the shirt into the jeans. The he rolled the sleeves up to his elbows. He ran a hand threw his damp hair and shook his head, sending droplets of water flying everywhere.

"Ew, Fitz!" I shouted as the front of my shirt was sprayed with his hair water. I couldn't help but laugh a little.

He stopped shaking his head and looked at me, smiling. His hair was sticking up everywhere and his eyes didn't look so dark anymore. I just wanted to run my fingers through his hair and stare at his smile.

I pushed that preposterous thought out of my head, forever. I cannot be thinking such things about the guy who had made my boyfriends life a living hell a couple months ago.

"You have to promise me that you will not fight him. Don't insult him or anything. Try to avoid even talking to him. Let me do the talking, please," I pleaded to him.

"I promise that I will try," he agreed. Well, that would do, I guess.

He continued to stare at me for a long while and I began to feel a little uncomfortable. Just as I was about to say something, he reached out a hand and pushed back some of my hair from my face. His fingers grazing my skin silenced me.

"You have very pretty eyes," Fitz told me. I flinched, remembering that those were the same words that Eli had first said to me.

I felt a blush creeping up into my cheeks and I tore my face from his fingers, looking away.

"Hey, it was a compliment," he smiled.

"I know," I said. I looked at him again. His eyes seemed to have a hold on me, I couldn't look away. It was a different feeling from staring into Eli's emerald green eyes. But I couldn't tell what that difference was just then.

Before I knew what was going on, Fitz began to lean in closer to me. His fingers found their way back into my hair and his other hand rested on my thigh. But, just as I was about to pull away and tell him he was gross, I stopped myself. He smelled very good. The rain had not masked his cologne. I actually felt myself leaning into him. I set my hand down on his left forearm. He felt so cold. I had a sudden need to warm him. I wanted to pull him into my arms and bury my head into his chest.

Oh my God! What is happening to me?

I felt his cool breath on my lips. Inside my head, my thoughts were screaming at me to 'Stop! Stop it now! Run away and never look back!'. But my body seemed to have a mind of its own. His cool lips brushed against mine, placing the lightest of kissed on my lips.

_Ding Dong_

I tore my lips from his and stood up quickly. What had I just done?

"Open the door!" Eli shouted from outside. Right, Eli, my _boyfriend_.

"Come on Clare!" I heard Adam add. He had taken Adam with him? Oh crap. Double crap!

"This never happened, you understand?" I hissed at Fitz.

"Fine," he breathed. I stared at him a moment longer and spun around, heading toward the front door. I walked right up to the door and grasped the knob.

_This is not turning out to be my kind of day._

* * *

So this chapter was kind long and the next one will be too. So be ready for a whole bunch more of the story!

Reviews are lovely! :D


	3. Confide in Me

**A/N**: I was thinking of changing the rating on this story to **M** because I have a couple ideas for possible ways to continue this story, and some of my favorites are kind of dark and, well, more suitable for a mature audience. What do you guys think? Should I keep it PG-13 or should I turn it up a notch?  
**Warning**: Eli gets a little wordy in this chapter, so please know that there is some language. Just thought I should caution you.

Anyway, here is chapter three of **Mess of Me**.

* * *

_Three  
_Confide in Me

xx

"Where is he?" Those were the first words out of Eli's mouth when I opened the door to my home.

"Eli, please, how about we calm down about this, okay? He's not here to hurt anybody," I reassured him, but he was having none of it. He pushed past me and into the living room. I saw Adam step from behind the door. He gave me a small smile.

"He's super mad," he told me.

"Yeah, I think I go the message," I said sarcastically. I turned my back to him and headed to the living room.

I stepped into the room and found Eli glaring at Fitz, who was sitting on the couch.

"What are you doing here?" Eli hissed at Fitz. But Fitz didn't speak. He looked like he was having a hard time keeping his emotions under control.

"Eli," I warned, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. But he shook it off.

"What is he doing here?" he asked me. His eyes blazed red with rage.

"Look, he's not hurting anyone-"

"He goddamn better not be!" Eli cut me off. I had never seen Eli this enraged, I was starting to get scared that he would do something rash.

"Calm down, Eli. Nothing bad is happening here," I assured him. I placed my hand back on his shoulder and he eyed me suspiciously.

"Wait a minute," he said quietly. Realization flashed in his eyes and he sent me a death glare.

"What is going on here? Why did you let him in? Are those his clothes on the floor right there?" he asked, pointed to the wet heap of cloths on the ground by the couch.

"Uh, yeah, but let me explain," I stuttered. This is not turning out good.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Eli asked firmly. I cringed at his use of swears.

"Nothing bad!" I shouted at him, annoyed.

"Oh really, please then, tell me the whole story," he said, placing his hands on his hips and cocking his head to the side, causing some of his black hair to fall over his emerald eyes. I wanted to brush it out of his eyes and kiss him, but that would not be appropriate at the moment, I knew.

"Fitz showed up at my door and he asked me for help because there was no one else for him to turn to and I let him borrow some of my dad's dry clothes because his were wet from the rain and then you showed up. That's the whole story," I said to him. I deliberately let out the whole 'kissing Fitz' part because Eli seemed mad enough. I'm pretty sure if I told him now, he would explode or something.

Eli breathed heavily, letting my words sink in as he tried to think straight. He looked at me once again.

"I still don't want him anywhere near you," he stated.

"He asked for my help and I'm going to do just that," I retorted. Eli slammed his fist back into the wall behind him. I flinched and I saw Adam jump from the corner of my eye.

"Damn it Clare, I'm not going to lose you to him again!" he exclaimed.

"I can assure you, Eli, that's not going to happen!" I shouted back. Eli's hands balled up into fists and his lips pressed into a line.

"Fine!" he threw his hands into the air, "Have it your way, Clare. Just know that I warned you," he hissed at me. Then he took a few steps forward, so he was standing inches from me.

"Bye then," he said. Then he reached out and hauled my body toward his, slamming his lips over mine. I melted in his arms. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back. But then he seemed to be getting a little _too _into the kiss, and that's when it hit me; the kiss was only to show off to Fitz. I unwrapped my arms and pushed him off me.

He stumbled back and looked at me, his eyes in a daze.

"You should go," I told Eli. He looked at me a moment longer and nodded. He turned around and took Adam with him outside, where it was still raining pretty good. But before he left for Morty, Eli turned around and gazed at me. Something was in that gaze, but I didn't understand what it meant. He mouthed something to me, but I once again didn't understand. Then he closed the door and he was gone.

My chest felt tight. I didn't mean to fight with Eli and I didn't mean to make him mad, but he was being completely irrational, right? I was doing the right thing by helping Fitz when he needed me. So why do I feel guilty about it all of the sudden?

"Glad that's over," I heard Fitz say from the living room. I sighed and turned around to walk back over to him.

"Thanks for not getting into it with Eli," I said. Fitz gave me a crooked smile.

"I really couldn't have you kick me out," he confessed. He looked down at his hands that were fiddling with the bottom of his shirt. That was when I remembered something.

"Hold on," I told him and walked over to the wet pile of clothes. I bent over and scooped them up, then carried them over to my laundry room. I threw the clothes in the dryer and turned it on, making the machine come to life with _clanks _and _bangs _of the dryer turning the clothes.

I walked out of the laundry room and into the living room, sitting down on the seat across from Fitz.

"You never told me what happened to you," I said, looking him straight in the eyes. His expression changed.

"It's nothing," he said and hung his head once more.

"If not, Fitz, I'll kick you out," I warned. Fitz sighed.

"Alright, alright. I got beat up today, okay?" he admitted, sounding a little annoyed.

"By who?" I asked him curiously.

"None of your business!" he snapped. A bolt of lightning pierced the sky, causing me to jump. His words echoed through the house, ricocheting against the walls and coming back to my ears.

"Sorry I asked," I apologized quietly.

"No, I'm sorry. I guess I'm still a little wound up about it all," he confessed.

"It's okay. You can tell me, you know. I won't say a word if you don't want me to," I offered. Fitz looked at me for a long moment, reading my expression, which was sincere.

"Fine. I've been having some problems at home, and I got into a fight with my dad," he confessed. I was frozen with shock. His dad did this to him? Fitz is a victim of child abuse.

"Oh my God, we should call the police," I said, standing up to go get the phone.

"No!" Fitz warned. I stood in front of him.

"Fitz, that is child abuse. You don't have to stand for this," I told him.

"Look, as you probably already know, I don't like getting the police involved in anything. They already hate me for the stunt I pulled at Vegas Night," I cringed at the memory, "And my parents would never forgive me," he finished.

"But they're hitting you, Fitz!" I almost shouted.

"And I understand that, but I just don't want the police involved, please," he pleaded. I stared at him a moment longer, contemplating if I should just bolt up the stairs and get the phone and call 911, or stay here with Fitz.

Fitz looked on the verge of tears. Maybe it's just my inner Saint talking, but I can't stand to see anyone cry. It breaks my heart.

"Well, what are you going to do about it?" I asked him. His eyes became shiny and his face started to become red.

"Nothing," he said quietly. He smashed his face into his hands and sniffled. I stood a second longer, wondering what I should do. I decided on walking over to Fitz's perch on the couch and sitting down next to him.

I looked sideways at him. His shoulders were bouncing up and down in silent cries. I swear, the sight brought tears to my own eyes.

I slung an arm around his shoulders and pulled him to me. His head fell to the crook of my shoulder and tears soaked through the fabric of my shirt. This was never a situation that I expected myself to get into; Fitz crying on my shoulder. His sobs were silent, but the tears were there. I felt my heart breaking even more at this new development. I ran my hand up and down his back, comforting him.

"It doesn't have to be like this, Fitz. You can make this go away. Why are you refusing help?" I asked him.

"Because I deserve it," he croaked. This shocked me.

"Fitz, no one deserves this," I told him.

"I've hurt so many people. I threatened your boyfriends life. I'm just getting what is coming to me, like karma," he told me.

"Fitz, it doesn't matter that you've hurt people before, no one deserve to be beaten by their own parents," I told him. I couldn't believe what he was telling me. He really thought that he deserved this.

Fitz lifted himself from my shoulder and wiped the wetness from his eyes.

"How can you be so nice to me when I've done nothing but make the lives of your friends hell? Why are you sticking up for me and not for them?" he asked me.

"Because," I said simply, "You need my help, and it's not easy for me to be mean toward people, even people like you," I confessed. His eyes lightened up at that.

"Really, so you could never be mean to me?" he asked curiously.

"I never said that. I mean that is takes a lot for me to be mean to people. They have to really piss me off," I said. He smiled.

"So me calling you a 'bitch' during Vegas Night didn't piss you off that much?" he asked.

"I'm telling you, it's got to be something _really _bad," I said, smiling.

"I'm really curious as to what you are like when you're that mad," he teased.

"Oh, you really don't want to know," I teased back. Fitz smiled.

"Hey, is there somewhere I can crash for a little while. I'm about to pass out," he asked me, yawning.

"Yeah, sure," I said. I walked over to him and helped him stand up. Then I helped him to the stairs. We took the steps one by one. It took us about two minutes to get to the top. We made it to my room and I pushed the door open. He let go of me and tried to stand on his own.

"I'll bring up your clothes when their dry," I told him. He looked down at me and smiled.

"Thank you for this, Clare," he told me.

"No problem," I said.

"No, really. Thank you," he said. Then he leaned down and planted a kiss on my left cheek. I instantly blushed, and I'm sure that Fitz saw it. He smiled and wobbled over to my bed, which he promptly collapsed on, face down. As soon at his head hit my pillow, he was asleep. I smiled at him.

"Sweet dreams, Fitz," I whispered into the room. I turned around and headed out of the room, closing the door shut behind me.

* * *

Oh Fitz! I thought that I'd show a different side of him in this chapter. I still don't know how long I'm going to take this story. I've got a bunch more ideas in the works, so I'll see where it takes me I guess.

What did everyone think of this chapter?


	4. Gonna Be In Love

**A/N**: So, I lovin' the reviews that I'm getting for this story, along with my ECLARE one-shots. Keep them coming, please!

This chapter contains some long awaited Eclare. But don't worry, more Flare is soon to come!

This chapter was inspired by the song Gonna Be In Love by _Great Big Planes_. Please listen to it because it's very lovely!

* * *

_Four  
_Gonna Be In Love

xx

My eyes opened to blinding sunlight streaming straight into my face. I scrunched my face up and turned my head to the side and pulled the blankets over my eyes. I groaned and tried to go back to sleep, but no such luck. I was awake.

I slowly sat up, keeping the covers over my face because the sun was still blaring in my eyes like hell fire. I pulled my tank top down since it had somehow ridden up during the night. I straightened my sleep shorts and planted my feet on the ground. I removed the covers from my face and rubbed my eyes with my palms. I opened my eyes.

I found that I was not in my own room, but in my living room. Wait, why was I down here?

"Morning sweetie," called my dad from the kitchen. My heart rate kicked into overdrive because I hadn't seen him there at first. I placed my hand over my heart.

"Morning Dad," I called after him, "When did you get home?" I asked him.

"I got in at about three in the morning. You were already asleep on the couch and I didn't want to wake you," he told me. I nodded my head.

"Why are you sleeping on the couch anyway?" he asked me, poking his head into the living room.

"Um," I said. Why couldn't I remember why I was down here?

"I was doing some homework and I guess I fell asleep," I lied. I felt bad but for some reason, I couldn't place why I was down here instead of my own room.

And then I remembered.

I stood up quickly and walked through the kitchen.

"Did you go into my room?" I asked him. He turned from the stove that he was frying bacon on and looked at me.

"No, why? Are you hiding something?" he joked. I forced a smile and laughed.

"Ha-ha, no Dad. Just curious," I said. I walked out of the kitchen nonchalantly and, once I was out of my dad's line of sight, I bolted up the stairs and to my room. I opened the door to my room and found it empty. I felt both relieved and worried. Where was Fitz? Last time I checked, he was sleeping up here.

I walked over to the bed and found the covers were coiled up into a ball and the pillows were strewn everywhere. Gosh, Fitz is some restless sleeper. I looked over at my nightstand and found my dad's clothes that I let Fitz borrow folded. There was a note and my cell phone on top of them. I picked up the note and read Fitz's surprisingly good handwriting:

_Clare,  
__Thanks again for letting me stay at your house last night. I really appreciate it. But I have to warn you, do no tell anyone what I told you yesterday. Do not call the police. I can handle things on my own. I know, since you're such a good person, you want to help me and I understand that. But I don't want you getting involved. Also, don't tell anyone, especially your little boy toy, about my little crying fit. It's embarrassing enough that you saw me that way. Thanks again for everything. I'll see you around.  
__Fitz  
__P.S. Your boyfriend has been texting and calling you all morning. Don't worry, I didn't pick up the phone or read any of the texts._

I set the note that Fitz wrote me down on my bed and picked up my phone. I had three missed calls and five texts.

**Eli:  
**_I'm sorry about yesterday Clare. I didn't mean to yell at you. Please call me._

**Eli:  
**_Please don't ignore me Clare. I'm so sorry._

**Eli:  
**_I really need to talk to you._

**Adam:  
**_Eli says he's sorry. I guess I am too._

**Eli:  
**_I'm coming over._

I gasped at the last text that Eli sent me. It says that he sent it ten minutes ago. Great.

I set my phone back down on my nightstand, and as if on cue, the doorbell rang. My head shot up and I froze.

"Hello Eli, are you here to see Clare," my dad answered the door and greeted Eli. I groaned.

"Yes, sir," I heard Eli say to my dad.

"Well, she went upstairs a second ago. Go check up there," he told Eli. I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and I got nervous. There was a knock on my door.

"Clare, you in there?" Eli asked through the door.

"Come in," I told him. The door opened slowly and I saw Eli's dark head poke in.

"Can I talk to you?" he asked me quietly. He looked sad.

"Yeah," I said. He opened the door all the way and stepped into my room. He was wearing a gray v-neck, his favorite black jacket that was buttoned only at the bottom, and a pair of black skinny jeans. A long red scarf was wrapped around his neck loosely. His raven hair was disheveled from the wind outside. Eli looked completely adorable with his rosy cheeks, caused by the low temperatures outside.

Eli closed the door behind him and he came over to stand in front of me. His hands were behind his back and he looked nervously around my room. Anywhere but my eyes.

"Eli-" I started.

"I'm really sorry, Clare," Eli cut me off. His green gazed locked on mine and I saw the guilt and hurt that resided in those eyes.

"No, Eli, it's okay. Really, I should-"

"I had no right to barge in like that and yell at you," he interrupted me again, "I was just worried about you. I know what Fitz is capable of and I didn't want him hurting you like he hurt me," he told me.

"Eli, I know that you don't like him, but Fitz can really be a nice guy. I've seen it," I told him. Eli rolled his eyes.

"Are we talking about the same Fitz?" he said sarcastically.

"I know it's hard for you to believe, given all that Fitz has done to you, but if you gave him a chance, maybe you could tolerate him," I said.

"Look, I'm done with Fitz. He almost stabbed me. I'm just going to ignore him from now on. That's the best I can do, Clare. I'm sorry," Eli told me. I sighed.

"I guess that's good enough," I agreed. I smiled at him. Then his expression lightened up and he looked like his old self again.

"I got you something," Eli smirked. I looked at him curiously.

"What is it?" I asked him. In response, Eli removed his hands from behind his back and reviled what he was holding. In his hand, he held a single black rose.

"A token of my regret," he smirked. I smiled huge and walked over to him. I took the rose from him and held it, stroking the smooth pitch black petals. It reminded me of Eli, in some strange way; beautiful, yet dark and mysterious. I raised my gaze and looked up at his green eyes.

"I love it," I told him. His eyes lit up even more. He raised a hand and cupped my cheek.

"I love you," he told me. A giant, goofy smile spread across my face. I stood on my tip-toes and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

"I love you too," I told him truthfully. I pulled back and he gave me a real smile, not a smirk, a genuine smile. He took my hand and walked toward the door of my room.

"Where are we going?" I asked him. He looked back at me.

"I'm going to let you drive Morty."

* * *

Yeah, I felt I had to add a little Eclare into this story. I still love Eli so much, but the thought of Flare actually happening on Degrassi is delicious! This is going to be the longest three months ever! Not to mention Angel: A Maximum Ride novel by James Patterson comes out three days after the Degrassi premiere! For those of you who read Maximum Ride, WTF Fang?

Anyway, enough of my rants. Chapter five will be up... maybe today. Most likely! Major drama will unfold, just an F.Y.I.!


	5. Lies for the Liars

**A/N**: First things first, **Happy Thanksgiving **people!

Second, I love how people know where I'm taking this next chapter because of the 2011 promo! I'm adding a bunch of drama in this chapter. It's going to get _messy_, thus the title.

Enjoy chapter five everyone!

_BTW_, I **love **the reviews! Keep 'em coming!

* * *

_Five  
_Lies for the Liars

xx

My knuckles turned white as I clutched the steering wheel of Morty in a death grip. To say the least, I was terrified. I have not had much practice driving before and I really didn't want to wreak Eli's hearse.

Eli, noticing my terrified expression, laid a gentle hand over one of mine.

"You're going to do fine, Clare," he assured me. Oh, how I wish I could believe him.

We were pulled over on the curb outside my home. Not much traffic is on my street so that's what makes it a good place to practice. I have been sitting in the drivers seat for a good five minutes, trying to muster up the courage to step on the gas and thus being in control of both Eli's and my life.

Eli continued to watch me, giving me the time I needed. But I could tell he was getting impatient. I took a deep breath and moved my right foot over to the gas paddle.

'Here goes nothing,' I thought to myself. I added pressure to the peddle and we lurched forward. I yelped and immediately pressed the brakes with both my feet. Eli grabbed onto the dashboard, so his head wouldn't go crashing into it.

"Okay, less pressure next time," he breathed.

"Sorry, sorry," I repeated over and over. I took my feet off the brake and moved my right foot to the gas once again. This time, I added a lot less pressure than before. We lurched a little bit, but not too much. This time, I didn't freak out. I kept my foot on the gas and turned the wheel to the left to get onto the road.

"Good, good," Eli told me. His eyes were fixated on the road in front of us. I could tell he was a little scared. Well, so was I.

I pulled out onto the road and watched as the speed limit sign got closer and closer. I increased the speed to match the limit. But I think I may have been going a tad slower.

Soon, I was navigating through my neighborhood with ease, stopping at all stop signs and letting pedestrians have right of way when I approached crosswalks. Of course, people gave us funny looks when we passed them since you don't see hearses driving by everyday.

"See, Clare, I knew you were going to do just fine," Eli complimented me. I smiled.

"Yeah, well I'm still freaking out a little," I admitted.

"You're doing wonderful, Clare," he told me. I willed my breathing to go back to normal because I had been hyperventilating since I first started driving today.

I turned a corner and Degrassi came into view. I groaned at the sight of my school.

"Were you planning on taking us to school, you do know it's a Saturday, right?" Eli joked. I laughed a little.

"No, I'm going this way because if I went the other way, I would have to turn around in a driveway because it's a dead end, and I wouldn't be about to pull out of it with this thing, it's huge," I said, cringing as I realized what my word choice sounded like.

"That's what she said," Eli chucked. I swung my head to look at him.

"Shut up!" I laughed. I took one hand off the wheel to punch his shoulder playfully.

"Ouch," he clutched his shoulder and looked at me with pretend hurt in his eyes. I laughed at him. We turned our heads at the same time toward the road. I saw a person walking about five feet from the front of the moving hearse. I slammed on the brake with both feet and attempted to avoid them by spinning the steering wheel to the left. The person jumped back a little as Morty almost hit him in the shins. Morty came to a complete stop and I sat there breathing heavily. I looked over at Eli and he had a death grip on the door handle. I sighed with relief.

"Whoa," I breathed.

"That was close," Eli said. I looked up at the person that I almost hit and almost screamed. Fitz was standing in front of Morty, staring straight at me. His expression was unreadable.

"Uh oh," I sighed.

"Why did you stop?" Eli said sarcastically. I reached over and pinched his arm. He slapped my hand off his flesh.

Fitz regained the ability to move and he crossed over to the drivers side door of Morty. I rolled the window down and braced myself for the worst. Fitz leaned into the window and crossed his arms.

"So, did your boyfriend tell you to attempt to kill me, just like I did to him?" Fitz asked me. He gave me a crooked smile.

"Move along, Fitz," Eli spoke up. Fitz glared at Eli and he opened his mouth to say something, but I spoke first.

"Fitz, I'm sorry. I'm just learning how to drive," I told him. Fitz looked back at me and his expression softened.

"Well, in that case, you're off the hook," he told me. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, I'm glad I ran into you," Fitz reached into his pocket for something, "I found these in my pocket."

Fitz dropped a pair of my black lace panties into my lap. I sucked in a breath.

"What the-" Eli whispered.

"And thanks again for last night," Fitz winked at me and straightened his posture. He began to walk away but I wasn't letting him go that easy. I pushed the drivers side door of Morty open and slammed it closed, holding the pair of my underwear that Fitz somehow had. I stomped over to him and stopped him in his tracks.

"How did you get these?" I hissed. Fitz smiled at me.

"When I was putting my clothes on this morning-" Fitz started, but was cut off.

"Wait a minute," Eli said from behind us. He had gotten out of Morty and started to walk toward us.

"Fitz stayed the night at your house?" he asked me as soon as he was next to us. I looked at him and smiled weakly. He knew what my answer was.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked incredulously.

"Calm down," Fitz said, "I needed a place to stay and Clare graciously offered to let me sleep at her house," he finished.

"Why couldn't you have slept at Bianca or Owen's house?" Eli glared at Fitz.

"We're not exactly on speaking terms at the moment," he told him.

"Why did you need a place to crash in the first place?" Eli asked.

"My parents are out of town and I locked myself out of my house. I didn't want to break the window because I didn't want to go to jail again," he lied. It sounded pretty believable to me. Eli breathed heavily, obviously enraged. He stared daggers at Fitz.

"What's with the underwear?" Eli asked, noticing I was still holding them. I was wondering the same thing.

"I got them after I had sex with your girlfriend," Fitz grinned wickedly. Eli lunged for Fitz, catching him in the jaw with his fist.

"Guys!" I shouted. I stepped forward, but was almost hit with a punch, so I backed away. Fitz got Eli in the gut with his fist and Eli doubled over, clutching his stomach. Fitz stepped back and cradled his jaw in his hand. Blood was streaming from his mouth in scary amounts. Apparently, he bit his tongue when Eli punched him. I almost rushed over to help him, but Eli recovered and lunged for Fitz again. He punched Fitz straight in the nose. A sickening crack sliced the air and Fitz cried out in pain. He stumbled back and covered his face with his hands. He straightened and shot Eli the dirtiest look I had ever seen. Fitz lunged for Eli this time, clocking him in the cheek. Eli yelped and stumbled back. But he recovered quick and grabbed the front of Fitz's bloodstained shirt. Just as he pulled his fist back to send it flying into Fitz face, I decided to put an end to this.

"Stop!" I shrieked as loud as I possibly could. Both boys froze and turned their heads to stare at me in complete shock. I took this opportunity to walk up to them and push them apart, standing in the middle of them.

"You two are acting like children," I hissed. I swiveled my head around to look at both of them.

"But he said-" Eli started.

"I don't care!" I yelled. Eli's expression changed from shock to fear. I turned to look at Fitz.

"Why did you say that?" I asked firmly. He shrugged, still holding his bloody nose.

"Because it's the truth," he said, looking straight at Eli. Eli growled and lunged forward, but I stopped him with my hand.

"Don't you dare," I glared at Eli and gave him the meanest look I had. If Fitz really wanted to see me when I was mean, well, I guess he got his wish. Eli glared right back at me.

"Don't tell me it's true," he said. I scoffed and rolled my eyes.

"Of course not," I said. I still had my hand on his chest, stopping him from attacking Fitz again. Eli glared at me, then at Fitz, then back to me. He took a step back and my hand fell from his chest. Then Eli turned and stalked over to the drivers side of Morty.

"Eli, what are you doing?" I asked him. Eli looked back at me and opened the door.

"Get a ride home from your sex buddy," he stated coldly. He glared at me once more and climbed into Morty and drove away, leaving me alone with a bloody Fitz.

* * *

OHSNAP! So, how did Fitz get a pair of Clare's underwear, hmm? I guess you'll find out in the next chapter. It won't be as intense as this one was, but there will be some Flare! Woot woot!

Until next time! (I actually think the next chapter might be up late tonight.. the ideas are flowing and I can't stop writing!)

_P.S. _Yes, this chapter is named after the CD by _The Used_, one of my all time favorite bands.


	6. I Cried a River Over You

**A/N**: I know I said that chapter six would be up yesterday, but I had to write an English paper on the play Antigone. So yeah, here is the new chapter. It's not going to be as intense as the last chapter, but there is some Flare! Hoot!

Enjoy!

* * *

_Six  
_I Cried a River Over You

xx

_Heartbreak_.  
I thought that I felt it before when KC broke up with me. But I had not felt as strongly for him as I do for Eli. When KC broke up with me, I was hurt, yes. But did I feel the way that I feel right now, right after Eli sped away in his hearse? The break up with KC left me feeling angry and sad, but I knew that I would get over it. But right now, the thought of being without Eli made my chest so tight to the point of physical pain. My breathing kicked into overdrive and my heart beat way too fast for my liking. Ice replaced the blood in my veins, leaving me cold and frozen in place. All that I was capable of doing was staring after Morty until he turned a corner and disappeared behind a cluster of overgrown trees.

Maybe I was overacting. Eli hadn't actually broken up with me. Or he didn't use those exact words.

_Get a ride home from your sex buddy_.

Had he not believed me when I told him that what Fitz said wasn't true? Did Eli honestly believe that I would sleep with the man that caused him so much pain? Maybe he was just being stubborn like he always is. Maybe he was just overreacting again. But why did I feel so alone all of the sudden, like Eli was out of my life all together?

My mouth hung open as I sucked in the cool November air. I reached up and clutched my chest with my hand. That was when I realized that I was still holding the pair of panties that Fitz as ever so graciously dropped in my lap a couple minutes ago, causing Eli to erupt with anger.

Tears of pure rage stung my eyes. I spun my body around so fast, I thought that I would fall over. I held the underwear out so Fitz could see and glared at him.

"How. Did. You. Get. These?" I hissed through my teeth. Fitz stared back at me with an expression of shock.

"Whoa, okay, cool it. I guess you had other laundry in the dryer when you dried my clothes because I found them mixed in with my clothes when I got dressed this morning," he admitting, holding his hands up in surrender. Now that I think back, there were a couple items of clothing that I found in there when I took Fitz's clothes out of the dryer.

"Then why did you say that to Eli?" my voice broke at Eli's name. Fitz shrugged.

"I have some unresolved anger for the guy," he said simply. I let out an exasperated sigh and dropped my arm.

"Thanks. A lot. I really appreciated that! We just made up after yesterdays fiasco. I really don't need another reason for him to be mad at me," I fumed. Instead of responding, Fitz turned his head and spit out the contents of his mouth, which was entirely blood, out onto the sidewalk. I grimaced and swallowed the sudden throw up in my throat. Then Fitz straightened and raised his hand to his nose, cradling it once more. Then he jerked his hand to one side and another sickening crack sounded, causing me to flinch and scrunch my face up in disgust.

I stared at him in disbelief. Did he just crack his nose back in place?

"When you get in as many fights as I do, you learn some things," he smirked. I groaned and rolled my eyes. I didn't want to look at his face a second longer.

I started walking toward the sidewalk, carefully avoiding the spot that was now stained with Fitz's blood. I began walking down the cement, fuming with anger and trembling with unshed tears. Now I had to walk the two miles home because my boyfriend had abandoned me at the side of the road. I was mad at Eli now. How could he ditch me like that? I still can't believe that he did that!

Why do I always fall for the hotheads?

Footsteps pounded down on the cement behind me and I prayed to God that it wasn't Fitz. Oh, but of course, it was Fitz who came up to walk beside me.

"Hey, where are you going?" he asked me.

"Go away, Fitz," I said. I didn't want to deal with anybody right then, least of all Fitz.

"Come on, I'll give you a ride home, sex buddy," he joked. But I wasn't in any kind of mood for his jokes. I coiled my fingers into a fist and set it crashing into Fitz's upper arm. I hit him as hard as I could. Fitz stumbled back and clutched his arm.

"What the hell?" he snapped. I stopped in my tracks and glared at him.

"Go. Away," I snarled. I gave him the dirtiest look that I had. But instead of looking scared, he looked amused.

"So this is what you look like when you're super pissed," he smiled. I lunged for him, raising my fist and got ready to punch that smile right off his face. But Fitz caught my wrists in a strong grip and held me in front of him.

"Did St. Clare just raise a fist to me? What has the world come to?" he teased. I tried to pull my wrists free, but he was too strong. I tried for a while to free myself, but soon gave up.

Then, I couldn't take it anymore. I burst into hysterical sobs, right in front of Fitz. The tears fell in waterfalls down my face. I just kept picturing Morty speeding down the road in front of me and disappearing from sight.

Fitz let go of my wrists, obviously shocked by this new development. I took this opportunity and started hitting Fitz in the chest with the palms of my hands while I heaved pathetic cries.

"Why would you say that?" I screamed between sobs. Fitz just shushed me and wrapped his arms around me. He patted my back awkwardly, not knowing what to do. I continued hitting Fitz in the chest and he let me. He kept his arms around me and kept shushing me comfortingly.

"Why couldn't you have just let me explain?" I screamed. I knew that I was just rambling and I couldn't stop myself. I was angry and sad and vulnerable, and I knew it. Fitz just wrapped his arms around me tighter and my face crushed into his hoodie. I gave up on hitting him and let my arms hang limp at my sides, accepting defeat. I continued crying into his chest and he rubbed my back up and down, just as I had done for him yesterday.

"Come on, Clare. He's not worth it," Fitz told me. How wrong he was. But I couldn't think of anything to say back. I couldn't have if I'd wanted to, because I was crying too hard to speak. He rubbed my back and I felt oddly comforted. I was currently in the arms of Mark Fitzgerald and I felt comforted? What's wrong with me?

My sobs quieted and I could breath regularly again.

"This is your fault," I said, raising my face to look at his. When his gaze landed on mine, his expression changed drastically. I didn't know what it meant though. He brushed a strand of hair from my tearstained cheek.

"He was the one who ran away," he told me. He was right. But I didn't want to admit it. I loved Eli. I really did. But he could be a real ass sometimes.

I sniffled and continued to stare at Fitz, unable to tear my gaze away from his face. His chin was stained with blood and his nose was becoming purple and swollen. I also noticed the gash on his right cheekbone. And I remember that his parents had done that to him. For some reason, that made me start crying all over again.

"Hey," Fitz said when I smashed my face into his chest. His hoodie was already wet with my tears.

"Come on. Let me take you home," he said. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and lead me along the sidewalk, toward a beat-up dark blue pickup truck.

"You're wrong," I managed to choked out. He looked down at me questioningly.

"He is worth it," I said sadly. He chuckled.

"Yeah right."

* * *

This one was kind short. I don't particularly like this chapter all too much though.  
Eh, whatever.

Chapter seven will most likely be up today.


	7. The Start of Something Odd

**A/N**: Oh my gosh. So I was almost done with this chapter hours ago, when a message popped up randomly and told me that Word was shutting down because there was some random problem, and I realized that I hadn't saved _anything_. So I was all **FML** and wanted to scream because I worked super hard on this chapter. It was the best one yet and now it's gone! So this is my attempt to recreate the masterpiece that I wrote earlier. It's not as good, but I guess it'll have to do. _Grr_.

I was listening to Blue Skies by _Noah and the Whale _while writing this chapter. I kind of based this chapter on the song because the song is about heartbreak, letting go and moving on. And that's exactly what this chapter is all about! I absolutely adore this song! The piano is breathtaking and the melodies warm my heart.

* * *

_Seven  
_The Start of Something Odd

xx

I hugged my soft white pillow to my chest as I stared blankly out in front of me. I was curled up into a tight ball on my bed on a Monday morning. I hadn't slept at all this weekend; not Saturday night, nor Sunday night. I hadn't finished my homework, which is very unlike me. But I just couldn't bring myself to do anything productive after what happened Saturday afternoon.

Once Fitz dropped me off, I quickly thanked him and stormed into my house. I went straight for my room and slammed my door closed. I took a look around at my perfectly clean room and something snapped in me. I walked over to my bookshelf and started throwing all my novels at my walls, making sure that I did some damage. Then I went over to my bed and ripped the tightly made covers off and tossed them to the other side of the room. Then I took one of my pillows and shoved my face into it. I screamed as loud as I dared and fell to the floor crying.

It was that moment that I decided that I was done. Done with all the drama in my life. I had had enough. And all of the drama had been caused by the boys in my life. Not just with Eli and Fitz, but with KC too.

Man, do I know how to pick them, or what?

After I recovered myself from crying, I looked around at my disheveled and damaged room. I felt oddly proud of myself. Because it had felt good to do something bad. But all that did was remind me of Eli and I kept picturing him driving away from me. I started crying all over again.

By Saturday night, I was all out of tears and I resorted to dry heaving. I had never had that happened to me before; running out of tears, that is. I was very tired, yet I couldn't sleep. I could close my eyes, but I was never taken away from the hell that was my reality. Maybe it was Gods way of punishing me or something. But what had I done to deserve this? I had helped a person in need. Why did I feel so guilty about it now?

I rarely left my room the whole weekend. I only went out to get food or go to the bathroom. But mostly, I just stayed in my room, reading some of the love stories that I had chucked around my room in an attempt to cheer myself up. But all that did was make me even more sad. Why couldn't my love life be like the ones that I read about? Why does mine have to be filled with so much drama and pain? It's not fair!

My alarm clock blared, signaling me to get my butt out of my cocoon. I smashed my hand down on the 'off' button and rolled myself over so I was laying on my back. I stared up at my ceiling and contemplated how I was going to get through school today. I doubted that I was going to be able to face Eli today. Maybe Fitz. I knew that I wasn't going to get through the day without breaking down crying. And I didn't have a shoulder to cry on. Adam has probably already taken Eli's side and will be ignoring me as well. Ugh, my life is so screwed up.

I realized that I was going to be all alone today at lunch. Where was I going to sit now? I didn't want to think about that right then.

I slowly lifted my body off my warm bed and planted my feet on the ground. I stood up and felt wobbly, since I had been laying in my bed for the past 20 hours. I crossed my now messy room over to my closet and found my school uniform. I stripped my comfy sweats off my body and pulled on my khaki pants and itchy purple polo. I tugged at a piece of my light brown hair and put it under my nose, taking a whiff. I immediately dropped the strand of hair and grimaced. I hadn't taken a shower the whole weekend and I smelled like no other. I sighed and continued getting ready. There was really nothing I could do about it since I had practically violated my snooze button all morning. I didn't have enough time to take a shower, let alone get to school on time. I pulled on the first pair of sneakers I could find and walked out of my room and into my bathroom.

I stared back at my reflection. I couldn't believe that the person reflected in the mirror was really me. My once perfectly curly hair now hung in frizzy, wavy strands all around my head. My bangs almost covered my eyes. The little make-up that I had on was smeared from all my crying. I reached for the bottle of make-up remover and smeared it on a cotton ball. I swiped all of the make-up off my face. I guess I am going all natural today. Then I took a look at my even paler skin. I looked like an honest to God zombie. I groaned and accepted that there was really nothing I could do about that.

I exited my bathroom and went down the stairs. I wanted to get out of the house before my dad saw me like this. He had been completely worried sick over me the entire weekend. He even called my mom so she could talk to me. But that did nothing.

I walked into the living room and picked up my backpack filled with unfinished homework and slung it over my shoulder.

"Bye Dad!" I shouted into the house. I heard some pans clanking together in the kitchen and my dad emerged in his flannel pajama bottoms and a gray tee.

"How are you feeling, Clare-bear?" he asked me. I stood in place and didn't answer him for a while.

"I'll make it," I said quietly and plastered a fake cheerful smile on my face. Apparently it was convincing since my dad smiled back.

"Have a good day at school," he said. I waved goodbye and turned around and headed out the front door.

Once I got outside, the cold air bit at my exposed skin. I realized that I had forgotten a jacket. I really didn't want to go back in there and be fake cheerful for my dad again, so I decided to suck it up.

I was about to walk over to the side of my garage to get my bike, since Eli was not going to be taking me to school today, when I noticed something in front of my house. I froze in place and stared. Fitz was there, leaning against his pickup truck. He had his arms crossed across his chest. An unexpected smile crossed my face as I stared in disbelief. Why was Fitz at my house on a Monday morning?

He raised his arm to wave to me. Then he gestured for me to join him. To my surprise, my feet started moving toward him. I jogged over to where he stood.

"Mornin' sex buddy," he smirked. I slapped his arm.

"That is not going to be my new nickname," I warned. But I couldn't help but laugh at his comment.

"Need a ride?" he asked.

"How long have you been out here?" I asked him.

"Not long. I thought you might need a ride considering your boyfriend stormed off because of me. This is my way of apologizing for what I said," he said. I was shocked. Fitz was apologizing to me? I let out a breath and realized that I could see it in the chilly November air. I rubbed my arms up and down when I noticed goose bumps forming.

"Hang on," Fitz said suddenly and pulled at the collar of his blue hoodie. He took the piece of clothing off and revealed that he was wearing the school regulation red polo that clung to his body in just the right way. I loved the way it made his lean frame look.

"Here, put it on. You must be freezing," he said, holding out his hoodie for me. I hesitated for a moment. But I took it anyway because I really was freezing. I slipped my arms into the sleeves and pulled it over my head, pushing my head through the collar and adjusting the hood. I pulled the bottom down and fixed it so it fit to my liking. Then I looked back up to Fitz and gave him a smile.

"Thanks," I said, "So, how about that ride?" I asked. He smirked and opened the passenger side door for me. I climbed into the car and was overwhelmed with the smell of smoke. I asked him about it on Saturday and he told me that he and his friends used to smoke cigarettes and pot in here, but that he didn't do it anymore since he just got out of jail.

He closed the door after I was situated and crossed over the front of the truck to the drivers door. He climbed in and slammed his door shut. He dug his keys out of his pocket and started the truck.

"So, they let you back in school?" I asked Fitz as he pulled away from the curb and down my street.

"Yeah, but they said that if I do anything to get into trouble again, they're gonna kick me out," he confessed

"Oh, so you're no longer the school bully," I smiled. He glanced at me and grinned.

"I guess not. I really need to finish high school," he said.

"Well that's good. So, Degrassi is going to see a whole new Fitz," I teased. He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, whatever," he groaned. I giggled.

"What are you going to do now that you can't beat up other people?" I asked.

"I honestly have no idea. Bianca and Owen blame me for the whole dress code and shit. So, we're not exactly friends anymore. I really don't have anyone else," he sounded like he was sad at that last statement. I have to admit that my heart twisted when he said it. Then I remembered that I also didn't have anyone to hang out with.

"Well," I said, placing a gentle hand on his arm, "You have me," I offered. He glanced sideways at me and went silent for a couple moments.

"I thought you hated me," he spoke after a while.

"I don't hate you, Fitz. I'm not happy at you for everything that you have done. But I believe that people can change," I told him. He glanced at me again and pressed his lips in a line. Then his lips curled into a smile.

"But what will everyone think?" he teased, looking into my eyes.

"Who cares?" I said. I smiled back at him and his eyes lit up. He let out a laugh.

"Well, this is the start of something very odd," he joked. I giggled.

"By the way," he said, "You look good without any make-up," he complimented. I blushed so hard at that. He obviously saw the deep red tint of my face.

"Uh, thanks," I said. I smiled and looked out in front of me. Degrassi came into view as Fitz turned a corner.

"Yay," Fitz cheered sarcastically. I giggled.

Fitz pulled into the parking lot and swiveled his head around, looking for a parking space. There was only one parking spot left. It was next to a pitch black hearse. Of course. And guess who just happened to be standing next to that hearse?

Right, Eli. He was accompanied by Adam. They were leaning against the back of Morty, pointing at an issue of a comic book and laughing. I groaned audibly.

"Of course," Fitz breathed and drove toward the spot. I slunk back in my seat and prayed that Eli or Adam wouldn't see me. But once the car was close enough to them, Adam looked up from the comic book and stared, wide-eyed, right at me. He tapped Eli's shoulder and pointed to me inside the car. Eli glanced up and our gazed locked. His eyes widened and he dropped the side of the comic that they were looking at. I stared right back at him.

Fitz pulled into the parking space right next to Morty. He pressed the breaks and put the truck in park. Then he pulled the keys out and sat back in his seat. He let out a long breath and looked over at me.

"Ready?" he asked. I nodded and we opened our doors at the same time. I stepped out of the truck and slammed the door behind me. I lifted my head and stared right at Eli, who was frozen in shock. Then I did something that never thought I'd do: I smirked wickedly and waved goodbye to him. Then I turned on my heel and walked away.

"See you in English," I called to him over my shoulder. I walked over to where Fitz was waiting for me. He smiled.

"This is going to be fun," he said, looking back toward Eli and Adam. I just grinned at him. I took his arm and hugged it to my side. We began walking toward the steps to the entrance of our school. The looks that we got from the students were all of disbelief and astonishment. But I ignored all of the gazes and whispers.

I looked up at Fitz's face and caught him grinning down at me.

The world around me was suddenly more colorful than before. The smell of him clung to his hoodie comforted me. It made me believe that I could make it through the day.

We reached the doors to Degrassi and he opened it for me.

"After you," he said. I grinned and stepped over the threshold.

Fitz was right, this was the start of something odd. And I couldn't be more excited about it.

* * *

Whoa, right? Yeah, so Clare might become a little **OOC **as my story progresses. But hey, I can do whatever the hell I want! It's _fan _fiction!

Chapter eight is gonna be up this weekend!

Lovely reviews?


	8. Hoping for Hope

**A/N**: I, as well, love Eclare, especially Eli since he is super yummy. And sometimes while writing my story, I feel really bad for Eli. But then again, Flare is just so juicy! So I am kind of undecided as to whether I side with Eclare fans or Flare fans. Meanwhile, I'll just keep writing **Mess of Me** and try to make a decision.

Enjoy!

* * *

_Eight  
_Hoping for Hope

xx

_What am I doing?_

That question has been plaguing my mind ever since I stepped into Degrassi. This behavior is completely unlike me. I just became somewhat like friends with my boyfriends enemy. Wait, is Eli even my boyfriend anymore? After the stunt I pulled this morning before school, I have no doubt that he is angry. Probably more than angry. But I'm too scared to even go near him. But I'm going to have to, because my next class is English and he sits right in front of me.

_What am I doing?_

Maybe my brain shorted out this morning and I'm finally getting my common sense back. I have been mentally kicking myself throughout the whole school day. I can't even believe how I acted toward Eli. I had been acting on some sort of adrenaline high and now that it has worn off, I am feeling the full extent of the damage I have done.

_What the hell am I doing?_

I clutched the edges of the porcelain sink and took deep breaths. I swear, if I had let go of the sink right then, I would have fallen over. It was the only thing that was keeping me upright. My legs were so wobbly from my nerves spazing out on me. I continued to take deep breaths.

I stare at myself in the mirror. Whoa, do I look like crap this morning. I can't believe that I actually came to school like this. I mean, I know I'm not one of those girls who obsesses over their looks, but I like to look descent. And descent is an exaggeration of how I looked. The bags under my eyes were completely visible. My skin looked so pale, that you could practically see the veins in my forehead. Gross. My lips were super chapped and I had not brought my lip balm with me today. And don't even get me started on my hair. It looks worse than it did this morning in my bathroom. I'm surprised that when Eli and Adam got a look at me when I got out of Fitz's truck this morning that they didn't burst out in hysterical fits of laughter.

A single tear suddenly rolled down my pale cheek. I was surprised because I didn't realize that I was crying. I quickly wiped it away and squeezed my eyes shut, willing the urge to sob to go away. I could not deal with that right then. I took a quick glance around the bathroom and sighed with relief. I was alone. Thank God. I didn't want anyone to see the inevitable breakdown that I might have.

I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my left wrist. I looked down and realized that I had been digging my right thumbnail into it. I had pressed the nail down into my skin so hard that I had drawn a dark crimson blood. But I didn't take my nail away at first because I was strangely comforted for a moment. But I soon realized what I was doing and whipped my hand away from the broken skin. No, I was not going to become a cutter. That was completely absurd! I quickly took a paper towel from the holder above me and pressed it down on my wrist, soaking up the blood.

_Oh my God, what am I freaking doing?_

I was still wearing Fitz's hoodie, so I stuck the piece of paper towel to the cut and pulled the sleeve of the hoodie over it. There, no one has to know.

I looked back up at my reflection and tried to give myself a reassuring smile. But it turned out looking more sad than happy and made me just that more nervous. I took one last deep breath and took my hands off the sink. I was happy to find out that I did not fall over. I bent down and picked up my backpack. I slung it over my shoulder and let out the breath I had been holding.

"You can do this," I told myself out loud to the mirror. Even though I sounded like I believed it, I really didn't. But I pushed those thoughts out of my head and walked out of the bathroom.

The hallways were almost empty since there was less than one minute to get to class. I guess I had been in the bathroom longer than I thought. I made sure there were no teachers around to see me and I bolted down the hall. I thought that my legs were going to give out from under me. I felt heavier than I remembered. But I made it down the straight hallway and turned the corner to Mrs. Dawes' junior English class.

I skidded across the hall when I turned and almost crashed into the lockers beside me. But I just missed them and kept moving. The halls were completely empty now except for me. I saw the door just ahead of me and I made a break for it.

I skidded to a halt at the doorway to the classroom. Every single head in the classroom turned to face me, including Eli and Adam. I smiled weakly.

As if on cue, the bell rang, startling me.

"Decided to finally join us, Ms. Edwards," Mrs. Dawes said to me from the front of the classroom. She had been writing down the lesson plan for today on the board.

"Sorry, I got held up at my last class," I lied quickly. I strode forward and reached my seat. I forced myself to look down at Eli, who was glaring up at me from his seat. Then he looked down and saw what I was wearing.

"Is that Fitz's hoodie?" Eli said Fitz's name like it was the most disgusting thing he ever said. I took my seat and scooted my backpack under my chair. I looked back up at him.

"I was cold and he offered it to me," I told him. He stared at me for a moment.

"What are you doing, Clare?" Adam spoke up. I looked at him and he stared at me, still in disbelief.

"That was my next question," Eli said. Then he leaned over, placing his long, slender arms on my desk.

"What _are _you doing, Clare?" he repeated Adam's question. I just stared at him. I wish I had that answer.

"Mr. Goldsworthy, care to share with the class what is so interesting that you are ignoring my lesson?" Mrs. Dawes interrupted. Eli spun around in his seat and sank down, crossing his arms over his red polo.

"No thanks," he said simply. Mrs. Dawes stared at him for a moment and sighed. Then she went back to explaining our lesson for the day. Apparently, we were watching a video and taking notes. Well, it's better than having to work with our English partners. Thank God!

The class seemed to inch along. The video almost bored me to sleep, and I saw that it did bore Eli to sleep. His dark hair was resting on his desk. His face looked peaceful. Then I saw the drool that was pooling on the desk under his mouth. I stifled a giggle and turned my attention back to the video.

I heard a 'psst' sound to my left and turned my head. Adam was still looking at me like I was some mad person.

"Okay, so what was that whole thing about this morning?" he whispered.

"Fitz showed up at my house this morning and he offered a ride. He wanted to apologize for what he did Saturday," I told him.

"Oh, right. Eli told me what happened. Did you really sleep with Fitz?" Adam asked. My eyes went wide.

"No," I almost shouted, "Wait, does Eli think that I did?" I asked.

"Eli came to my house Saturday, yelling nonsense about Fitz and you. I couldn't really make out most of it. But he did say that he was going to make Fitz pay for what he did," he looked a little worried.

"Well, he better not pick a fight with Fitz again. I hope he remembers what happened the last time he wanted revenge," I said. I really didn't want that happening again. And maybe this time, someone would get killed.

"Oh, he seems pretty set on hurting Fitz. And I don't think there is any hope for stopping him," Adam told me. Great.

"What's the big deal about all of this? He only stayed one night and we slept on different levels of the house," I said.

"Well, I guess Eli doesn't know that. He is convinced that you slept with Fitz. He was super upset about the whole thing. I swear, I thought he was going to cry," Adam said. Oh my God, Eli almost cried? You have got to be kidding me.

"I've got to talk to him," I said. Mrs. Dawes, noticing that we were talking, shushed us. I slunk back in my set and watched the rest of the video, completely neglecting my notes. I wasn't even paying attention to the video anymore. I was just thinking about what I was going to say to Eli when class was over.

Just as I thought I was going to explode with anticipation, the bell rang, interrupting the video. Mrs. Dawes got up to say something to the class, but I was barely listening. Eli's head snapped up when the bell sounded and he quickly gathered his stuff and stood. I stuffed my notebook in my backpack and quickly followed Eli as he walked out of the classroom. I called his name when we got out into the hallway, and he pretended to ignore me. My God, is he stubborn.

I caught up with him, having to push some people out of the way to do so. I grab his arm and pulled him back. He resisted, trying to pry his arm from my grip, but I wasn't budging. He finally gave up and turned around to look at me.

"What?" he snapped. His eyes were blazing.

"Can I talk to you?" I asked, trying to look as innocent as possible. I knew that it was one of his weaknesses. He would do anything I wanted when I widened my eyes and bit my bottom lip. His eyes softened a little and he looked around the hall. We were getting pushed and shoved by students on their way to their next class. Eli grabbed my wrist and lead me to one of the storage closests and opened the door, letting me in first. He stepped in and shut the door behind him. There was no light on in the closet and it was quick stuffy, but I could still see Eli in the dim light that shone through the bottom of the door. Eli crossed his arms over his chest and huffed.

"Well, talk," he commanded. I shifted awkwardly in my place and looked up at him.

"I did not sleep with Fitz," I told him on the spot.

"Yeah, well it kind of seems like it," he retorted.

"Please, you have to believe me. Fitz only wanted to hurt you because he is still mad about the whole going to Vegas Night thing," I explained.

"That was his fault," he said.

"That doesn't matter right now. What matters is that I didn't sleep with Fitz," I told him.

"Well how do I know you're not lying?" he asked me.

"I don't know, Eli, you just have to believe me. I would never do that to you. I thought you knew that!" I raised my voice. Eli looked at me for a while after I said that.

"Fine, but why did I see you getting out of his truck this morning?" he asked. He uncrossed his arms.

"Because he wanted to apologize for what he said on Saturday," I told him.

"Shouldn't he be apologizing to me?" he asked.

"Yes, and I'll talk to him about that," I said. Eli's eyes darkened when I said that.

"Wait, you're still going to talk to him after all of this?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes, Fitz has changed, well a little bit. But I believe that I can change him even more. He's a different person than from before. You just have to give him a chance, Eli," I said. Eli surprised me by taking both my hands in his.

"Look, if this is your little plan to piss me off after leaving you behind on Saturday, then you succeeded. I'm pissed. So please forget all of this Fitz stuff and let's go back to the way we were," he pleaded me. It took everything that I had not to say yes.

"Eli, I'm not going to give up on Fitz when I'm almost at a breakthrough with him. He can change and I know it," I told him. He dropped my hands.

"Why are you so fascinated by Fitz all of the sudden?" he asked me.

"Because, he has learned his lesson. Nobody else is giving him a chance, and well you know me, I feel bad for him," I admitted.

"You feel _bad _for Fitz, are you kidding me? What's happened to you, Edwards?" Eli asked. He was starting to sound mad again.

"Maybe I'm changing too. Maybe I need to learn how to forgive people and to let go of grudges," I told him, "I know someone else that maybe could learn that as well." Eli narrowed his eyes at me.

"He almost stabbed me!" he shouted.

"But he didn't!" I shouted right back. Now I was mad. Eli was just so stubborn.

"So, you're saying that I should forgive the guy who beat me up and almost killed me a couple months ago?" he asked.

"Not right away, Eli. In time. This feud between you two is just getting old," I said.

"You say that Fitz has changed, right? But have you given any thought to why he came to you for help? Maybe he is using you to get under my skin," he said. I have to admit, that did make me think. What if Fitz really is just using me? But that couldn't be possible, right? Well, actually, it was possible. But I didn't want to admit that to Eli right then.

"Why do you insist on only seeing the bad in people, Eli?" I asked, starting to get fed up with this argument.

"I don't always see the bad in people," he responded. I snorted.

"And who do you not see the bad in?" I asked.

"You," he whispered. This startled me because I could feel his breath on my face this time, when I couldn't earlier. I guess it really was dark in here because I hadn't known that Eli was leaning in to my face. His hand reached up and grazed my jaw line. I instantly felt like putty. He wrapped an arm around my waist and hauled me to him. My body collided with his. Then his lips swooped down and crushed mine in a possessive kiss. My arms encircled his neck and I pulled his hair, knowing how much he likes it when I do that. He growled into my mouth and kissed me harder. I completely forgot what we had been arguing about and lost myself in Eli's kisses. He suddenly pushed my body against the door and moved his mouth down to my neck. I ran my fingers through his dark locks of raven hair. His kisses traveled back up and he began kissing the place just under my ear, which felt surprisingly good. Then his teeth clamped lightly down on my earlobe and a low moan escaped my lips. He traveled back up and placed feather light kisses on my cheek and kissed me once on the lips. Then he pulled away, much to my dismay.

"We're going to be late for class," he whispered. I could see a smirk on his face. I smiled and opened the door that my back was pressed against. But once the door was completely open, I felt sudden pressure on the other side and an _oof_. I realized that someone had just ran into the door and I quickly let go of the handle and walked over to the other side. I saw someone holding their nose, blocking their face from recognition. But I knew who it was.

"Sorry Fitz," I apologized. I stepped over to him and removed his hand from his nose. It was still a little purple and swollen from his brawl with Eli two days ago.

Fitz opened his eyes and saw me standing in front of him.

"I give you a ride to school and this is how you repay me?" he asked jokingly. Then he noticed Eli standing behind me and he stiffened. Fitz gave Eli a subtle nod of his head, as if to say 'What's up?' and Eli grabbed my hand.

"Are you okay?" I asked Fitz. He looked back at me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Well, don't let me interrupt," he said, holding his hand up and stepping out of our way. He started to walk away.

"See you later, Fitz," I called after him. Eli squeezed my hand, but I ignored him. Fitz turned around and looked back at me. He raised his hand and gave me a small wave.

"Yes you will," he called back. And he smiled, a little too devilishly, if you ask me. I turned back to Eli.

"Walk me to class?" I asked. He looked down at me for a moment. His grip on my hand loosened. Then he smirked.

"Of course," he said. We began walking down the hallway, getting to our next class on time.

Well, at least this time nobody got hurt. Maybe there is some sort of hope for them after all.

* * *

Mmm, a little Eclare action in this chapter. I had to add some into this story. Ha-ha.

But there is some major drama coming soon. Maybe next chapter, or the chapter after that. Speaking of the next chapter, I have no idea when it'll be up because I'm going back to school tomorrow and I won't be able to write as frequently. But it won't be like months apart, don't worry. But I'm expecting for it to be up tomorrow, or at the latest, Tuesday. My computer continues to go insane on me and it's starting to piss me off. Grr, computer! But this is the only computer in my house that doesn't have a virus so I guess I'll have to deal with the insanity.

More later!

_P.S. _I am currently working on another story, Catch Me, and it's going to be in Eli's POV. It's also going to be rated **M **for of violent and disturbing themes. I thought I'd give a shot at writing darker stuff. Some of my dark side showed in this chapter also, with the whole nail thing. And a side note, let's just assume that Clare has super sharp nails, because I know mine couldn't break skin. I'm a hardcore nail biter!

_P.P.S. _Yes, I realize that I changed pretenses a couple of times in this chapter. I'm just too lazy to change it. Sorry.


	9. Everybody is Somebody Else's Secret

**A/N**: I really should be doing my loads of chemistry homework right now, but I decided that it can wait until later. Just a little side note, Clare might become a little out of character, as I already informed you, as the story progresses. And yes, I'm meaning for that to happen. Also, like I said at the end of last chapter, there will be some more major drama, and both this chapter and the next will have a lot. So be prepared!

Onward to chapter nine!

* * *

_Nine  
_Everybody is Somebody Else's Secret

xx

**Fitz  
**_Do you want to go to the Dot before the concert?_

**Clare  
**_Mmm, that sounds great. When are we leaving?_

**Fitz  
**_I'll swing by your house in a few. I have a surprise for you. ;)_

**Clare  
**_What is it?_

**Fitz  
**_The point of a surprise is that you don't know what it is! I have a feeling you're going to love it._

**Clare  
**_Can you give me a hint?_

**Fitz  
**_Nope. Just trust me, it's awesome!_

**Clare  
**_Ugh, fine! See you in a bit._

I clicked 'send' on my cell phone and stuffed it in the back pocket of my new skinny jeans. I went shopping the other day and got myself a whole bunch of new clothes. I was saving this particular outfit for my next date with Eli, but I was just too excited to wear it. Today, Fitz is taking me to an _A Day To Remember _concert. I don't usually listen to that much punk music, but when Fitz had me listen to a couple songs of theirs, I was addicted.

It's been about a month since the underwear fiasco and things have cooled down. Eli and I have made up and he is beginning to accept the fact the Fitz and I are friends, but he is still a work in progress. I have to accept that Eli is never going to fully support that friendship. Fitz and Eli have resorted to completely ignoring each other when they are in the same room, which is alright I guess.

But until Eli is more understanding about Fitz and me, I have refrained from talking about Fitz with him. I have also gotten into the horrible habit of sneaking around with Fitz behind Eli's back. Oh, I'm not cheating on Eli or anything. But I have been hanging out with Fitz more and more ever since the day he drove me to school. And whenever I tell Eli that I am hanging out with Fitz, he gets this disgusted look and rolls his eyes. Soon, I got tired of him doing that and I just don't tell him. I know that it's awful to do that, but I hate seeing Eli like that.

Like today, I am going to a concert with Fitz and Eli doesn't know a thing about it. Eli actually has a thing for _A Day To Remember _so I kind of feel bad about that. But I knew that telling him would only lead to a fight and I really don't feel like fighting today. I am in too good of a mood.

I walk out of my bedroom and into my bathroom. I gaze at my reflection in the mirror. I am really shocked at how different I look. I decided to take a bold fashion move for this concert and let me tell you, I nailed it!

I'm wearing dark red skinny jeans that hug my curves just right, a black tank with lace on the top that reveals the slightest amount of cleavage, a black blazer with the sleeves pushed up, and black combat boots. My hair and make up is really something else as well. I have on heavy amounts of black eyeliner and mascara and dark red lipstick. My hair has been flat ironed and hangs sleek, just touching my shoulders. I look absolutely nothing like myself. I don't know why but there is something about hanging out with Fitz that makes me want to express myself in very different ways.

I give myself a reassuring smile and head out of the bathroom and down the stairs, into my living room. My dad, and probably anyone else who knew me, probably would have laughed their butts off if they saw me like this. And yes, it would be funny to see someone who has been a Saint her whole life look like the queen of the dead.

I picked up the remote and started flipping through the channels, trying to pass the time until Fitz got here, along with my surprise. I really wonder what it could be.

I settled for an episode of Grey's Anatomy. It was the episode where Meredith finds out that George is the bus-crash victim and both George and Izzie are dying in the end. That was the whole reason that I stopped watching the show because George was my favorite character.

After about ten minutes of watching the season finale, I heard a particularly loud motor revving in front of my house. I turned the television off and walked over to the front door. I looked out the side window and saw a guy on a motorcycle who was parking in front of my house. I was wondering who it was when the guy took off his helmet and I saw his face. I flung the door open and shut it behind me, staring in awe at this shocking image.

Fitz was standing, now, in front of this motorcycle and looking at me with a smile on his face. He looked particularly wonderful today in a black leather jacket, plain white t-shirt, and form fitting jeans. His eyes skimmed me up and down, taking in my outfit.

"Wow, Clare," Fitz said, "All of that for me?" Fitz smirked at me.

"What is that?" I asked, ignoring his statement. I gestured to the bike behind him.

"Oh," he looked over his shoulder as if he just realized that it was there, "Surprise!" he said enthusiastically.

"Do you know how dangerous motorcycles are?" I asked him. He shrugged.

"Come on, Clare. Live dangerously," he smiled. I cringed at the sudden memory that popped into my head, but pushed it away.

"Um, I don't know about this," I stammered. To tell you the truth, I was terrified. I had never ridden one of those in my life.

"It's going to be fine. I have a license to drive one of these you know," he informed me.

"So how come I've never seen you ride one before," I asked.

"I've been saving it for a special occasion," he winked. I rolled my eyes and inched my way forward, towards the bike.

"It'll be alright, Clare. Here, take the helmet," he said, holding his helmet out for me to take. I took it and stared for another moment. Then I pushed all of my fear away and slipped the helmet onto my head and buckled it.

"I love your outfit, by the way," Fitz told me. I smiled.

"Thanks," I said. Then Fitz swung his leg over the bike and sat down. He patted the seat spot behind him.

"Come on," he said. I took a deep breath and took the seat behind Fitz. I felt a little strange being so close to him. But I also felt comforted by the warmth of his body, radiating from under his jacket. I pressed my body against his and wrapped my arms around his torso. He looked back at me and smiled.

"You ready?" he asked. I nodded and he revved up the motor, making me flinch at the loudness. He chuckled and pulled away from the curb of my house. When I felt the bike jerk forward, I hugged him tighter to me to keep from falling off the back. I buried my head in his back and proceeded to close my eyes. I was completely terrified.

I felt the wind passing over us as Fitz accelerated down my street and onto the main road.

"You alright back there?" Fitz called over his shoulder over the sound of the wind. I nodded against his back and continued to keep my eyes closed.

"Don't be so afraid, Clare. I know what I'm doing," Fitz told me. I felt reassured by his words and I slowly opened my eyes.

Houses passed by my line of sight in a flash. It was about six at night on a Saturday so the sky was becoming darker and darker with each passing minute. I opened my eyes all the way and watched as the scene in front of me blurred past. I was completely fascinated by this feeling. Then, as I got braver, I peeled myself from Fitz's back and watched the road over his broad shoulder. I still kept my grip on Fitz pretty tight though. I then realized that my thighs had been squeezing his hips and I quickly loosened up. I watched as the people and houses and stores flashed by us while the wind cooled my nerves.

"There you go!" Fitz shouted over the roaring winds to me. I smiled and started laughing. I felt completely free and totally alive. More alive that I had ever felt before. I had the sudden urge to fling my arms up to the sky and scream with joy, but my inner Saint told me that was not a smart idea. Fitz began laughing along with me and I could feel his chest moving up and down under my tight grip.

I stared at the back of Fitz's head while we rode along the streets. I loved the way his hair moved in the wind and how the smell of his shampoo flowed from him and into my nose. He smelled incredible. I wanted to lean closer to him and smell his neck, but that would be totally weird.

Without thinking properly, I removed one of my hands from around his torso and ran my fingers through his brown hair. His head turned back to look at me for a moment. Then he turned his attention back to the road. Once my brain started working again, I removed my hand from his head and slipped it back around his body.

"Sorry!" I shouted to him.

"S'okay!" he shouted back. That was completely weird of me to do.

Once I saw the Dot coming into view, I got a little disappointed that my ride on Fitz's motorcycle was over. But then I remembered that I was going to be riding it again to and from the concert.

Fitz pulled into an empty parking space and parked. He stepped off his bike and held out his hand to me. I took it and he helped me off the seat. I stood straight and adjusted my outfit. Then Fitz reached under my chin and unbuckled the helmet for me and slipped it off my head. I smoothed my hair after I realized that I must have helmet hair now. Fitz saw me doing this and he grabbed my wrist to stop me.

"It's prefect," he told me. I was momentarily fixated on his eyes, but snapped out of it and smiled.

"Okay, let's get something to eat, shall we," I said and started heading toward the entrance. Fitz followed me and opened the door.

"After you," he said and I walked in. I scanned the place immediately and was relieved to find that nobody I knew was eating here. Fitz led me over to the counter and we sat down on the stools.

"What can I get you two?" the worker behind the counter asked.

"I'll have a vanilla milkshake," I said.

"I'll have a chocolate milkshake," Fitz told the worker. The worker nodded and walked to the other side of the counter and took the orders of another group.

"This concert is going to be so amazing," Fitz said to me.

"I know," I beamed, "This is only like my second-"

"Clare?" a voice from behind me said. I spun around in my stood and was face-to-face with Adam. My eyes widened and my lips parted in shock.

"Um, hey Adam. What's up?" I asked nervously.

"I should be asking you the same question. What's gotten into you?" Adam asked me.

"She's going to a concert with me," Fitz spoke up from behind me. Adam glared at Fitz for a moment and then proceeded to glare at me.

"So, what are you up to tonight?" I asked.

"Well, I was just getting some food with-" Adam was cut off.

"What are you doing here?" another voice asked from beside me. I turned to see Eli and stiffened. But Eli wasn't looking at me. His question was directed at Fitz. He hadn't even noticed me yet. Uh oh.

"Getting some milkshakes with Clare," he answered.

"Clare?" Eli looked puzzled for a moment. Then his gaze landed on me. His eyes skimmed me up and down, just like Fitz had done when he picked me up earlier. Then he looked me right in the face and recognition dawned on him.

"What the hell?" Eli said in utter disbelief. I smiled weakly and Eli.

"Hey Eli. How are you?" I asked, unable to come up with anything else to say. I mean, what could I possibly say right then?

"What happened to you?" he asked me, ignoring my question.

"She's going to a concert with me," Fitz repeated.

"Here you two go," the worker said from behind us. He slid the milkshakes to us. I caught mine and took a nervous sip. Then I looked back at the developing situation.

"What, like a date?" Eli snapped. He looked mad.

"No, we're just hanging out," I assured him. But he wasn't having any of this.

"Are you kidding me, Clare? What do you see in this asshole anyway?" Eli spat.

"Hey!" Fitz spoke up in response to Eli calling him an asshole.

"You heard me," Eli said to Fitz.

"Guy, please don't do this," I said.

"Come on, Eli. Let's go," Adam said. He moved forward to grab Eli by the arm, but Eli snapped his arm away.

"What do you think you're doing?" Eli asked Fitz. They were giving each other death glares and I was starting to become afraid that a fight would break out.

"Guys, seriously," I said. But both of them ignored me.

"I'm just going to a concert, jeez. What's your problem?" Fitz snapped back at Eli.

"You're my problem!" Eli shouted. Then he pulled his fist back and sent it flying toward Fitz's face. I gasped and lunged forward. But Fitz grabbed Eli's wrist before he hit him and twisted his arm behind his back. Eli leaned over and cried out in pain.

"Please stop!" I shouted, but they still ignored me.

"Now, why don't you just calm down and-" But Fitz was cut off by Eli sending his foot right between Fitz's legs. Fitz yelled out in pain and doubled over. He remained hunched over, breathing heavily.

"Think of that as payback!" Eli shouted to Fitz. Fitz looked up and gave Eli a very dirty look.

Without really thinking it through, I walked right up to Eli and struck him across the face with my palm. The whole place went silent after I did that. I instantly felt bad about slapping Eli. Meanwhile, Eli reached up to cup his reddening cheek and stared at me in complete shock. I had never done something like that before, so I really didn't know what to say. I just stared at him for a while with a death glare of my own. Eli's lips trembled, as if he wanted to say something but held back. I spoke up instead.

"I am sick of you two fighting!" I shouted. Eli continued to stare at me with wide eyes.

"I can't keep dealing with this! I'm done!" I all but screamed in his face. He remained speechless. I saw Adam out of the corner of my eye with his mouth hanging open. The entire place was listening in on this conversation and I got a little nervous. I turned around and saw that Fitz had regained himself and was staring at me, just like everyone else. I walked over to Fitz and grabbed his arm.

"Come on, let's go," I commanded him, and surprisingly, he did what I asked. I pulled him along with me to the exit. I had just set my hand on the door to push it open when Eli's voice stopped me.

"What do you mean you're done?" he asked me. I turned around and glared at him.

"We're over," I said quietly. I thought that he might not have heard me, but the look in his eyes told me that he did. I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat and turned around. I pushed through the doors of the Dot and instantly wanted to ran back in and fall into Eli's arms and tell him that I didn't really mean it.

But the doors shut behind Fitz and me and I didn't turn back.

* * *

Do I really have the heart of stone to break Eli and Clare up? Apparently. I feel a bit ashamed of myself at the moment.

In other news, chapter ten will most likely be up tomorrow. But it might be up tonight, depending on when I get my homework finished. More drama to come in the next chapter!

Reviews? (I feel like I might get some Eclare fans hatin' on me...)


	10. A Night to Remember

**A/N**: So I just found a picture of Eli and Fitz both hugging Clare and I made it my desktop background. It really is a wonderful picture!

Now, a word about this chapter here. It's quite long and mostly descriptive. Also, at the end, there is somewhat of a... sexy scene, if you will. I kept it at a PG-13 rating for the sake of my **T **rating on this story. So I guess I'm saying that viewer discretion is advised.

_P.S. _Clare acts majorly **OOC **in this chapter!

* * *

_Ten  
_A Night to Remember

xx

"Um, so are we still going to the concert of do you want me to take you home?" Fitz asked me. We had been standing next to his bike for a good two minutes not saying anything. But really, what was there to say? I had just broken up with Eli and I felt horrible about it. My chest felt tight and tears threatened to escape my eyes. My blood was running cold and I wanted to go home and curl up under my blankets and cry my heart out. But I knew that would do no good. This was good, right? I mean I had told Eli countless times that he shouldn't fight Fitz, and yet he ignores my pleas. I have a right to be pissed off. But I find it hard to be pissed off when I keep picturing Eli's face when I said we were over. He looked so hurt and sad. It was all I could do not to run back over to him and comfort him. But I knew that I couldn't. I have really made a mess of myself over the past few weeks.

"No, I need to take my mind off this whole thing," I tell Fitz. He stares at me for a moment longer, making sure I really meant what I said, and nodded.

"Alright," he said simply.

"I feel like this is somewhat my fault," he admitted. I shook my head.

"He started the fight. You didn't do anything wrong," I told him. It was true. Fitz hadn't even raised a fist to Eli. All he did was try to calm him down. But Eli's temper got the best of him. I wiped the moisture from my eyes and sniffed.

"Well, should we get going?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yes," Fitz said and he got on the bike. I hopped on the back and he handed me the helmet. I slipped it on and buckled it. I wrapped my arms around him and he revved the motor. Instinctively, I clung to him tighter and buried my head into his back. Fitz backed out of the parking spot and accelerated down the street. But not before I opened my eyes and got a glimpse of Eli running out the doors of the Dot with red eyes. He stared after me as we passed him. I lifted my head from Fitz's back and turned my head backward to get one last look at him. He called out my name in a horrible choked up voice and a tear rolled down my face. I looked away from the sad image and buried my face into Fitz's leather jacket. I couldn't stop the tears now. But I doubt that Fitz could hear my quiet sobs over the roaring wind.

Fitz navigated his way through the streets while I cried my guts out on the back of his motorcycle. I don't know if he knew I was crying, but he did look back at me a couple times to give me a small smile. But his smiles didn't do much justice. If Fitz had lost control of the bike and my body had gone skidding across the roads and I got ran over by a car after I came to a stop, the pain would not be worse than what I am experiencing right now.

I squeezed two chunks of Fitz's shirt in my fists and cried even harder.

"It's be okay, Clare," Fitz said to me over his shoulder. He apparently noticed my cries.

"How do you know?" I asked him. My voice cracked on 'know'. Fitz was quiet for a second.

"Because I'm here. I'll help you through this," he said. My fists unclenched and my grip on him loosened. I lifted my head up from his now tear soaked leather jacket and I looked at the side of his face as he watched the road. His eyes flicked toward me for a moment and he saw my puffy red eyes. I was sure that my makeup was smearing, but at the moment, I didn't care.

"Don't worry, Clare. I'll make sure that you have as much fun as possible tonight," he said to me.

"Why do you care so much about how I feel?" I asked him.

"Because I hate seeing you like this. Please don't cry, Clare," he told me. And, funny thing, at that moment, I no longer felt like crying. Maybe it was because my tears ran out, or maybe it was something else. I unwrapped one of my arms from his body and wiped the tears from my face and from his jacket. I wrapped my arm back around and hugged him closer to me.

"Can I see a smile?" he asked me. He looked back for a moment and I summoned up the best smile I could. Then he smiled too.

"There you go," he said and turned his face back to the road. I looked up from his face and realized that we were in the city and close to the concert venue. The sky had darkened to a dark gray and the lights from the buildings the towered overhead blared down on us. I started up at the buildings, fascinated. Then a genuine smile crossed my face and I started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Fitz wanted to know.

"I've never been to the city before," I told him, "This is all so cool."

"Really? Well, we'll have to come here more often," Fitz said. I smiled at the thought.

We rode around the city for about twenty more minutes. I marveled at the tall buildings and bright lights. I must have looked like a kid who just walked into a candy store. Fitz chuckled whenever I let out an 'ooh' or an 'ahh'.

"Well, here we are," Fitz finally announced. We arrived at a large building that was brightly lit. Crowds of people were loitering around the entrance, most of them wearing _A Day To Remember _merch. Fitz pulled into the back of the building and found a parking spot. He parked his bike and got off. Then he helped me off and took my helmet off. I started to walk back to the entrance, but Fitz stopped me. He turned me back toward him and he reached his hand up and began wiping under my eyes with his thumb. Once he was done, he withdrew his thumb and I saw that it was smeared with black. I guess my makeup really was smeared.

"Thanks," I said to him.

"No problem," he shrugged, "Now, let's go rock our asses off." Fitz took my hand and led me back to the front entrance. We navigated our way through the crowd of people and got up to the doors.

"Can I see your tickets?" one of the guards asked us. Fitz reached into his pocket and pulled out the two tickets and gave then to the guard. The guard looked at them for a moment and ripped off one of the ends of the tickets. Then he reached behind him and grabbed two green paper wristbands. He took Fitz's wrist and tied one of them around it. Then the guard took my wrist and wrapped the other wristband around my wrist.

"Pit entrance is to your right," he pointed to a door about twenty feet away, "Merch is sold to the right as well," he told us. We thanked him and Fitz lead me into the mob of people in the buildings front room. I think there were literally hundreds of people in the room. Pounding music was coming from the stage area. I guess the opening bands had already begun to play.

"You want to go and get a good spot?" Fitz had to shout to be heard over the loud volume of the music and people around us. I nodded and he led me over to the door to the right. We had to push and shove our way through the mobs, but we eventually made it. He placed his hand on the door.

"You ready for this?" he asked me.

"Yes," I answered and he pushed open the door.

The music overpowered me and I actually had to take a step back. Fitz laughed and pulled me back. The stadium that the concert was being held at was huge. People were already screaming and cheering for the band the was currently playing: _We Came As Romans_. The growls of the lead singer pierced my ears but I resisted the urge to plug them. To say the least, I am not use to being in settings like this. I didn't know what I was expecting when I agreed to come along with Fitz to this concert, but I didn't think it would be like this. People were screaming in the stands all around me. I scanned the entire arena and found that pretty much all of the seats up in the stands were taken.

"Where are we sitting?" I yelled right into Fitz's ear to be heard. He looked back at me.

"We're not sitting!" he shouted back at me.

"Then where are we going?" I shouted. He smirked at me.

"Are you ready to mosh it up, Edwards?" he asked me. I had no idea what he meant, so I nodded and let him lead me to wherever we were going. Then I got a look at the floor just in front of the stage were the band was playing full force and saw all of the people crowded there. Fear clutched me by the throat and I felt like I was going to suffocate even before going down there. Fitz seemed to notice my sudden hesitance.

"It's going to be alright. Trust me," he told me. The he led me through another crowd and we neared the gates to the floor. Fitz and I reached the guards that were there and he had us show him our wristbands. We did and he let us through. I had to jog to keep up with Fitz as we crossed the clearing and into the giant crowd of concert goers. Then Fitz proceeded to push and shove his way through the crowd in an attempt to get as close to the stage as possible. We made it pretty close to the front until the people around us were too tightly packed to even move anymore. I felt completely awkward being pressed up against random people. Fitz stood beside me and squeezed my hand. I looked up at him. The colorful lights that filled the room cast a pink glow over his face. I smiled up at him and then turned my attention back to the stage. The band had just finished their last song and were saying goodbye to the fans. Everyone screamed around me and begged for an encore. But they left the stage anyway and the lights in the stadium turned back on. I looked at Fitz questioningly.

"They're preparing for the next band," he told me. I mouthed 'oh' and nodded. I was pressed dangerously up against many sweaty fans who were now talking to their friends. The girl in front of me was only in her bra. She apparently took of her shirt and threw it up to the stage. Now it was even more awkward to be pressed up against her. I could barely breath, we were so tightly packed together. Fitz kept a tight hold of my hand and I squeezed every once in a while, when I got scared. But he would lean in to my ear and whisper that everything was going to be alright. I was so happy that he was here with me.

After about ten minutes of people setting up the stage, all of the lights in the stadium turned completely off and the only light was coming from the flash of cameras. I squeezed Fitz's hand. The crowd went completely insane when the lights turned off. People started screaming all around me and everyone started jumping up and down. The sweaty bodies around me rubbed up and down against me and the strong odor of B.O. overpowered my nose and I grimaced as everyone around me raised their arms. I don't think I could have raised my arms if I had wanted to because we were so tightly packed. Beside me, Fitz began screaming along with everyone else. Flashes of cameras continued to go off as the lights stayed completely off. Then the drummer began playing a steady and the crowd started going even more crazy, jumping higher and screaming louder. Maybe the energy in the room was infectious because right then, I started jumping along with everyone else and I managed to raise the arm that was not clutching Fitz's for dear life. The lights began flashing onto the stage at the bass joined in with the drums. The music thumped through my body and I felt energized and alive, a different kind of 'alive' than when I had been riding Fitz's bike earlier. Then the guitar joined in with the bass and drums and I started screaming along with everyone else. Fitz squeezed my hand and I looked over at him and saw him smiling down at me. I smiled back at him just as the lead singer launched right into All I Want.

_I'm always screaming my lungs out 'till my head starts spinnin'  
__Playing my songs is the way I cope with life; won't keep my voice down  
__Know the words I speak are the thoughts I think out loud  
__I like to keep things honest; I'm a safe bet like your life's staked on it  
__For real.  
__I'd hate to keep you all wondering  
__I'm a constant like the seasons, and I will never be forgotten man_

I screamed the lyrics along with the singer, along with pretty much everyone else. I jumped up and down for what seemed like forever.

_All I want is a place to call my own  
__To mend the hearts of those who feel alone  
__Whoa  
__You know to keep your hopes up high and your head down low_

The band concluded their first song of the night and left the fans begging for more. I found myself screaming even when the band was just talking to us. I was having so much fun. It felt like such a release form my soft and cushy normal life. It felt wonderful to scream my lungs out and rocking out with thousands of people to one of my favorite bands only a few yards away playing all of my favorite songs.

The concert lasted about three hours, with two encores. While they were performing their last song, Fitz leaned into my ear.

"Wanna get out of here and beat the crowd?" he asked. I turned to him and nodded. Then he started walking the opposite direction of which everyone was facing and push his way through the crowd to get to the clearing at the end. We finally got out of the crowd and I stopped for a moment and let go of his hands to hunch up with my hands on my thighs, heaving in breaths that were lost while in the mosh pit. Fitz stepped back over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. I stood straight and gave him a smile. He smirked and took my hand once again, leading me through the gates and out the exit of the stadium.

The noise level dropped dangerously and my ears continued to ring.

"You want a shirt?" Fitz asked me. I looked over at the merch stands.

"Sure," I said, noticing the small lines and realizing that we had only a certain amount of time until this place would be flooded with people. He led me to the booth. He slapped $40 on the table and asked for two concert tickets. I was surprised to find out that concert tees are $20 each. That's a little absurd, but whatever. The worker gave us the two shirts and we made our way to the exit of the venue. We pushed through the doors that led to the outside and I was instantly overcome with coldness. I let go of his hand to hug myself.

"Was that awesome or what?" he asked me with a huge smile on his face. I responded by grinning and jumping up and down while screaming. It felt good to do that. I was still high on the adrenaline left over from the concert. Fitz started laughing and he put his arm around me. We started walking toward the parking lot in the back.

"So, I'm assuming you had fun," he said. I looked up at him.

"It was the best night of my life!" I exclaimed. He laughed again.

"Wow, I love this side of you, Clare," he said. He tightened his arm around me and started walking faster to his bike. We made it to his motorcycle and he grabbed the helmet and handed it to me. I put it over my now sweat soaked hair. I felt completely dirty. My body was coated in sweat and I smelled horrible. But Fitz was the same, so I wasn't alone. Fitz climbed onto the bike and I climbed on after him. I wrapped myself around him and leaned my head against his back, suddenly overcome with tiredness. He started the bike and began riding down the streets. The wind cooled me down from the concert. It felt so good, drying my sweat coated body. I closed my eyes and let memories from the concert flood my mind.

The ride home went by in a complete blur. I swear, I must have fallen asleep or something because the next thing I knew, Fitz was pulling up to my house and parking his bike. I peeled my wet body from his leather jacket and looked at him tiredly. He helped me off the bike and removed the helmet from my head.

"I'll walk you to your door," he said and took my hand. He led me the small walk to my front step and stopped in front of my door. He let go of my hand and stood looming over me.

"Tonight was amazing. I'm so glad that you were here to share it with me," Fitz told me. I smiled at him.

"Thank you for the best night of my life. I owe you one now," I told him. Then we stood a little awkwardly for a few moments, just staring at each other in the moonlight.

"Well, goodnight," Fitz said. He started to turn away from me, and something inside me snapped. I grabbed his arm and he turned back toward me. Without giving it a second thought, I stood on my tip toes and gave him a small kiss on the lips. I drew back only slightly and we lingered like that for a moment. Then Fitz leaned back down and crushed his lips against mine in a hungry kiss. I jumped up and wrapped my legs around his waist. He supported me with his hands and pressed my body up against my front door. Our lips moved over each others urgently, wanting to get as close to each other as possible. My body arched into his and I ran my fingers through his short hair. His hands lingered at my waist for a moment, and then his fingers slipped under the fabric of my tank. And I didn't stop him. Normally I would have, but now, I wanted him to.

I unwrapped one hand from his neck and reached into my back pocket for my key. I felt for the lock with my hand and somehow unlocked the door without even breaking the kiss.

"Stay with me tonight," I told him when we finally broke the kiss. He looked at me a moment and smiled. Then he removed one hand from me and opened the door behind me. He kept his hold on me and carried me into my house. Thank God my dad was away on a business trip this weekend. I wonder what he would have done if he caught me completely making out with a random guy.

He let me down while simultaneously kicked the door shut and locking it behind us. I took his hand and led him up my stairs. Once we reached the top, Fitz grabbed me from behind and started kissing my neck.

"You have no idea how long I wanted to do this," he told me between kisses. I reached my arm back and clutched a chunk of his hair in my hand. A moan escaped his lips and his lips we instantly on mine. He twirled me around and his hands were back under my shirt, stroking the skin underneath it. My hands slid underneath the front of his shirt and I felt his skin burning beneath mine. I kissed him with a passion that I had never expressed before.

I clutched his leather jacket and slid it off his shoulders. He let it slid off his arms and land on the floor. My hand went back to the bottom on his sweat soaked shirt and I began lifting it up off his body. He got the hint and pulled his shirt over his hand and it fell to the floor. His hands slid underneath my blazer and he pulled it down my arms. It fell to the floor as well. I began to walk backward to the door to my door and Fitz followed without breaking our connection. My hands were all over his naked chest, exploring every inch of it. He moaned into my mouth and his hands began pulling at the bottom of my tank. I hesitated at first, but I pulled the sweaty thing off my body and exposed my almost bare top half to Fitz. His hands caressed my stomach and he leaned down to kiss my neck and shoulders.

Meanwhile, I was still slowly backing up to my door. My bare flesh pressed up against the cool door and I shivered. I reached back and opened the door. We came tumbling into my room and I managed to close the door behind us. We kicked off our shoes and stumbled around the room. Fitz grabbed the backs of my thighs and lifted me onto the top of my dresser. My legs instinctively opened and he stepped in between them, kissing me all over. His lips sucked on the skin of my neck and I threw my head back and moaned in pleasure. His grip on my became tighter and his hands traveled to the tops of my thighs. My hands unwrapped from his neck and traveled down his chest and rested at his belt buckle. His body tensed at the contact, but then relaxed. I fumbled with it and soon got it undone. I slide his belt from his jeans and dropped it to the floor. Then my fingers unzipped his jeans and I pushed them down his legs. He was left now in just his red flannel boxers. He stepped out of his jeans and his hands instantly went to my waistline, unbuttoning my jeans and pulling them down, quick roughly, over my bottom and down my legs. I kicked my jeans off and was left in my red silk bra and the black lace panties that Fitz had found in his pockets the first time he stayed over. He looked down at them and chuckled to himself, then he lifted me up from the dresser and carried me over to my bed. He set me down and I crawled under the covers. He climbed in after me and we started to kiss again. I practically attacked him though. I pinned his body under mine and kissed him hard.

We stayed like this for what seemed like hours, kissing each other hungrily. Then, when I got brave enough, my hands slipped down his chest and rested at the waistband of his boxers. I slowly began to pull them down, when he caught my wrist in his grip and stopped me. I looked up at him in the dim light that lit my room. His eyes had grown dark with lust, but he had some reason hidden in them. He pulled my left hand up to my eye level and played with the purity ring that I had resting on my finger. He reminded me that I promised myself tat I would remain pure until marriage, and as much as I wanted to just rip off that ring and break my promise, I knew he was right. I let out a long breath and slumped down onto his body. He sighed and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me closer to him. I rested my head on his chest and listened for his steady heartbeat. The sound of it comforted me, and it reminded me just how tired I really was.

Fitz leaned down and kissed the top of my head.

"Sweet dreams, Clare," he whispered in the silence. I smiled against his chest.

"Goodnight, Fitz," I whispered back. I closed my eyes and let delicious sleep overtake me.

* * *

Ohmigosh, well this is officially _my _favorite chapter, I don't know about you guys. I love Eli so much, but this Flare action was wonderful!

Next chapter will be up tomorrow at the earliest, Wednesday at the latest.

Reviews?

_P.S. _I'm sorry for any grammatical errors or anything else that might have gone wrong with this chapter. It's like 11:40pm on a Monday and I'm too tired to proofread.


	11. I'm Sorry

**A/N**: I got caught up in reading The Body Finder by _Kimberly Derting _(which is a truly romantic and suspenseful novel. I totally recommend it!) and I almost forgot to write the next chapter… Almost!

So, here it is!

_P.S. _This chapter is painfully short. My imagination isn't running wild today.

* * *

_Eleven  
_I'm Sorry

xx

My eyes fluttered open and the daylight from my window shone into my eyes. I squeezed my eyes shut and stretched my body out in my warm bed. I reached my arms over to the other side of the bed to find the soft flesh that had fallen asleep next to me. But my hands dropped down on cool bed sheets. My eyes snapped open and I looked over at the empty void in my bed that had been fill only just last night. I sat up on my elbows and surveyed my room, but there was no one there. I pushed the blankets off my body and instantly got the chills. I realized that I was only wearing my bra and panties. I got up from my bed and stumbled over to my closet where I found an oversized sleep shirt and I slipped it on. I looked around the room once again and it was still empty. There was no sign of Fitz.

Then my gaze landed on a piece of paper that was resting on my nightstand. I walked up to it and saw Fitz's handwriting. I picked up the note and read it.

_Clare_

_I'm sorry I wasn't there when you woke up. But I had to be somewhere early this morning and I didn't want to wake you. I want to thank you for last night. It was amazing, in more ways than one. Maybe we could do it again sometime?_

_Fitz_

The memories from last night flooded my mind. The motorcycle rides, the concert, and making out with Fitz. But there was one more memory that wasn't so pleasant from yesterday that I forgotten about until just then:

Eli's face growing smaller in the distance when I sped away on Fitz's motorcycle after breaking up with him.

The note slipped from my hands and a lump formed in my throat. Had I really done that? Had I seriously ended my wonderful relationship with Eli? It didn't seem real. I tried telling myself that it was all just a nightmare and Eli was going to call me any minute to ask me on another date. But I knew that wasn't going to happen.

Also, another disturbing recollection from last night, had I seriously made out with Fitz? Oh my God! Had I really fallen asleep next to him in my bed? And did I seriously let him take my clothes off until I was half naked? Now _that _seemed less likely to be real than the thing with Eli.

I felt like crying all over again. But I swallowed my sorrows and decided that I had cried enough. But then I had one of the horrifying thoughts: What is going to happen on Monday when I went back to school. I still sit behind Eli in English. What if he want to fight Fitz again? This time, I'm betting, someone would get seriously hurt.

I walked over to my dresser and picked up my phone that had fallen out of my pocket when Fitz had taken off my pants. I had many missed calls and new text messages. This can't be good…

**Eli  
**_Can we talk about this?_

**Eli  
**_Did you really mean it when you said we were over? I don't want to break up with you, Clare._

**Eli  
**_I promise, I won't fight Fitz ever again. Just please talk to me._

**Eli  
**_CALL ME!_

**Adam  
**_Alright, Clare, call Eli! He is getting on my last nerve! He continues to bitch to me about the whole thing that happened at the Dot. Please release me from my misery! I'm begging you!_

**Adam  
**_I swear to God, if you don't call Eli in the next five minutes, I'm going to kill myself and take him with me!_

**Adam  
**_When we get to school on Monday, I'm going to lock you two in a closet until you work this out because this is ridiculous!_

**Eli  
**_I'm so sorry. What can I do to get you to talk to me again?_

I couldn't read any more of the texts. There were a bunch more, but I pressed the 'erase inbox' button and they all disappeared. I held my phone in my hand for another minute, contemplating what I should do. Then I started dialing the digits and pressed send. A few rings later, he picked up.

"Call Eli, not me," Adam told me.

"Well hello to you too," I said sarcastically. Adam sighed.

"Seriously, Clare. Eli stayed over at my house last night and he wouldn't let me sleep because of you. He kept getting up to drive over to your house, but I tackled him to the ground before he got to Morty. He's a wreak," Adam told me.

"I messed up. I know. But I don't know what to do. Is Eli still at your house?" I asked him.

"No, he just left 30 minutes ago. I'm surprised he hasn't shown up at your house yet," Adam said.

"What should I do, Adam?" I pleaded.

"Talk to him! You two need to work this out," Adam told me.

"I don't know what to say to him," I admitted.

"Well, did you really mean to break up with him?" Adam asked me.

"Yes. I mean no. I mean, I don't know! I really screwed up, Adam!" I wailed into the phone. Alright, I was on the brink of tears.

"Clare, please talk to him. I know you want to, and he needs to hear from you," Adam said sweetly since he noticed I was crying. I sniffed.

"Ugh, fine. I'll talk to him," I agreed.

"Great! So he'll finally get off my back about this," Adam sounded relieved. I giggled. I love Adam.

"I guess I'll see you in school tomorrow," I said.

"Bye. And good luck with Eli," he said.

"Bye, Adam," I said and clicked off.

I didn't call Eli. But I did send him a text.

**Clare  
**_I'm sorry for what happened yesterday. I was just really mad, I shouldn't have yelled at you, or slapped you for that matter. I'm really sorry. But I did mean what I said. I am done with the fighting. I can't handle it anymore. I can't be with you if you're going to keep getting yourself hurt.  
__I love you.  
__And I'm sorry it had to come to this._

I clicked 'send' and threw my phone on my bed. Why did it have to be this difficult?

* * *

Wow, that was a failure of a chapter. In all seriousness, my brain is completely fried today. My creativity is lacking. I'll make the next chapter **extraordinary **because this one was just kind of a filler.

Guh.


	12. Take it Back

**A/N**: Yes, I am aware that the last chapter was super short and it really was just a filler. But this chapter is much longer and contains some drama.

Enjoy!

* * *

_Twelve  
_Take it Back

xx

I clutched my jacket around me as I walked out of the snow flurries and into the front hallway of Degrassi Community School. I stopped for a moment once I was inside and shook my head, sending the snowflakes that had collected in my curls flying. Once I was satisfied that all of the snow is out of my hair, I reached up and patted my curls down, fixing what I had messed up. My body shuddered in chills as I let out a long breath. Then I began walking down the hallways toward my locker. I bump shoulders with a couple people and promptly apologized. My feet started to move faster as I realized that I have five minutes to get to my first class.

I reached my locker and emptied my backpack of my English binder and math notebook. I then stuffed my chemistry book and notebook into my backpack and slammed my locker shut.

But just as I turned to head toward my class, warm fingers wrapped themselves around my cold-tipped ear and yanked me forward.

"Ow!" I yelped as I took a glace to my left. I find that it was Adam who was dragging me by my ear. He also had a chunk of my hair clutched in his hands, which hurt more than my ear.

"What are you doing?" I head Eli say from the other side of Adam. I leaned forward and saw that Adam also had Eli by his ear.

"What needs to be done," Adam said simply. He lead us through the halls, with some people giving us weird looks. I tried to twist my way out of his grip, but whenever I tried to free myself, he gripped my ear harder and tugged my hair harder.

"Adam, what's going on!" I shouted at him. He didn't even look at me. He kept his gaze straight forward and continued to drag Eli and me by the ears. Then he turned us and we were face-to-face with a storage closet door.

"Oh my God, you were serious?" I shouted at Adam. Then he let go of my ear and I took the opportunity to flee. But I was stopped by Adam grabbing my wrist in a death grip once he had opened the door.

"What the hell, man?" Eli shouted to Adam. Adam then shoved Eli into the closet, but not without a fight. I am surprised by Adam's strength since I know that Eli is very strong. Then Adam pulled me to him and shoved me into the closet along with Eli.

"Are you kidding me?" I yelled at him.

"You guys will thank me for this!" Adam shouted as he let go of me and shut the door. I pressed my body up against the door and try to keep it open, but Adam is too strong. The door clicks shut and I try the knob, but the door was blocked.

I have a question, why did I keep ending up in storage closets with Eli?

"Adam! Come on!" I shouted as I pounded on the door with my fists. I keep kicking and hitting the door for a long while when I noticed that Eli had been very silent the whole time. I felt a pair of arms wrap around me from behind and pulled me from the door.

"What are you doing?" I asked him. I pried myself from his grip and whirled around to face him. Big mistake.

Eli's black hair was windblown and had a couple of snowflakes stuck in it. His cheeks were rosy from the cool temperature and his lips were an appealing dark pink. His green eyes were red rimmed and he didn't have his usual smirk on his face. The sight tore at my insides and threatened to rip my heart to two.

"He's not going to let us out until we talk," I said awkwardly, since he didn't look like he was going to speak up any time soon. Eli just kept staring down at me.

"Did you really mean it?" Eli asked me.

"Yes," I said quietly. I hung my head and let my hair fall over my face. I couldn't look at him a second longer.

"Is this just about the fighting?" he asked.

"Eli," I lifted my head, "I can't stand to see you get hurt anymore. I am fed up with all of this violence!" I said louder than I meant to.

"What do you expect me to do? Let Fitz keep beating me up? I'm sorry, Clare, but I can't let him get away with that!" Eli shouted back at me.

"He didn't start the fight on Saturday, that we all you!" I retorted. He stared at me hard for a while. He knew I was right.

"I can't stand to see him near you. And what was with the get-up that day anyway?" he asked me. He crossed his arms across his chest.

"I was going to a concert," I told him.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought you were cheating on me with him," his face contorted with disgust when he said that.

"Well, I wasn't. We were just hanging out?" I informed him. He scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Oh really? So he didn't make a single move on you?" he asked. I cringed.

"Not at the concert," I said truthfully. His face hardened.

"What about when you left the concert?" he hissed. He saw right through me.

"I don't think you want to hear about this," I said. His mouth hung open.

"What are you saying?" he demanded.

"Nothing. Forget it," I said, turning my head to the side.

"No! Don't forget it! What happened?" he shouted. I cringed as his voice rose. I didn't answer him and he was getting impatient.

"Did he kiss you?" he asked, his voice quiet again. I nodded my head. He drew in a sharp breath.

"Did you kiss him back?" he asked. My nose scrunched up and I nodded again. I jumped when Eli's fist hit the wall.

"Damnit, Clare," he breathed. He was hunched over and his hair was covering his face.

"It wouldn't have happened if you hadn't have picked a fight with him!" I yelled. His head snapped back up.

"I somehow doubt that!" he shouted back.

"This is your fault! You did this, and I'm done!" I yelled. I turned back around and pounded against the door.

"What if I'm not done?" Eli asked from behind me. I turned my head to look at him.

"I love you too much to let you go!" he shouted. A tear dropped from my eye.

"If you loved me, you would have listened to me when I said not to fight Fitz anymore," I choked out. Another tear.

"Please, Clare," Eli stepped toward me and grabbed one of my hands in his. I was momentarily rendered paralyzed as his shining eyes met mine. They were bloodshot.

"Eli," I ripped my hand from his grasp, "You continued to ignore me when I begged you not to fight him. I can't be in a relationship with someone who doesn't listen to me," I said. His forehead creased and a tear slid out from his eye.

"I'm sorry," he said. His lips quivered.

"It's too late for that now," I said, "You had so many chances to change and you didn't."

"Don't do this," Eli begged. Another tear slid down his face. He reached for me, but I stepped back. I shook my head sadly and sniffed.

"I have to," I said sadly. I turned around to face the door again. I turned the knob and found it to still be jammed. I took in a deep breath and heaved myself against the door as hard as I possibly could. Whatever was blocking to door gave out and I tumbled out of the closet. I fell to my knees on the ground and I quickly composed myself and got up. I smoothed my khaki pants and turned on my heel. I didn't look back at Eli as I heard his footsteps behind me. I picked up the pace and started jogging down the hall.

"Clare!" Eli yelled behind me, but I didn't turn back.

Instead, I ran to the front entrance of the school and found that the guard was not there. Bathroom, perhaps? But I wasn't about to sit there and wait for him to come back. I ran through the metal detectors and out the doors of Degrassi, straight into the snow falling outside.

**xx**

I crawled under the warm sheets of my bed as the day drew to an end. Don't ask me how I did it, but I ran all the way home, in the snow, without my jacket. Although, when I got inside my house, I tore through the house, stripping off my clothes, and headed right to the shower. I cracked up the heat of the water all the way and stood in the stream until my fingers and toes pruned beyond recognition. Not to mention that I was crying the entire time.

I didn't want to give up on Eli, like he told me not to. But he left me no choice. I tried to push through it and I gave him many chances. But I can't stand to see him get hurt. I really didn't want to hurt him. It kills me to do so.

I got out of the shower and got right into my comfy flannel pajama bottoms and a yellow tank top. I trudged through my house and curled up on the couch to watch TV for the rest of the day. My dad was at work, luckily, and hadn't caught me skipping out on school.

The light coming through my bedroom window was dimming and my eyelids were extremely heavy.

I rolled over and buried my face in my covers , trying to think of something, _anything _else.

I close my eyes and tell myself that I did the right thing.

Even though it hurt like hell.

**xx**

My eyes opened when I heard a rapping on my window. I pushed the covers off my body and sat up in my bed. I look at the window and see him. His face was illuminated by the moon, making him look straight out of a dream.

I walked over and opened the window wide.

"Take it back," he said before I could even say a thing, "I don't want you to leave me."

"It's too late."

Eli looked away so I wouldn't see his eyes tearing up.

"I'm sorry," he mouthed; the words didn't come out.

"I was just thinking that maybe…" he turned his face back to look at me, "we could have one last night together." His saddened eyes filled me with the worst regret that I had ever experienced.

I know that I should tell him no. I tell myself that I can't allow this to happen. But instead, I open the window wider and step away so he can climb into my room.

He takes my hand and leads me to my bed. We lie together in silence. We lay on our sides, with him behind me. I feel his hands running along the curve of my spine and up to my shoulders, caressing them.

I close my eyes once again. He moves his body closer to me with every passing minute. He wraps his arm around me and takes my hand in his. I cling to him like it's the last time I have the chance, and maybe it is.

His steady breathing soothes me and soon lulls me to sleep. But before I fell was completely asleep, I swore I felt his kisses up and down my neck.

But maybe it was just a dream.

When I woke the next morning, it was to the sound of my buzzing alarm. Eli was no longer there with me in my bed. I rolled over and found a note on my nightstand.

_Thank you for giving me one last night._

I drop the note to the ground as I realized the gravity of what I had done. I didn't want this to be our last night. But I also knew that we were never really meant to be, just like my parents.

I didn't want to end up like them.

But I can't imagine a future without Eli by my side.

* * *

So, I just finished re-watching Umbrella pt. 2, and I about cried when Eli said, "I want you to not give up on me." Awww!

Seriously, this three month wait is going to make me go **insane**! I need to know what happens when Fitz comes back!

Speaking of Fitz, don't worry, he's coming back.

I still haven't decided... Eclare or Flare... Why is this so difficult!


	13. Tunnel pt 1

**A/N**: I had a lot (did I mention it was a lot?) of homework yesterday and I could not update as I had planned to.

Also, I have decided how this whole story is ending. I have also decided who Clare will end up with. Well, you'll have to wait until the next chapter to find out. And yes, that means that I am concluding this story after one more chapter. It has been so much fun writing this story and I love all of the feedback that I have gotten. But it has to end sometime, right?

Anyway, I now present you with chapter thirteen!

* * *

_Thirteen  
_Tunnel pt. 1

xx

Days have gone by since our last night and Eli and I have not spoken as much as two words to each other. We share the casual nod and/or wave hello in the halls. We don't pay attention to each other in English, although I do catch him dropping his pencil on purpose so he can glance at me as he picks it up.

I just can't believe how screwed up my life is becoming. I broke up with my wonderful boyfriend, Adam doesn't talk to me all that much anymore, my parents are still getting a divorce, and one of my only friends is Mark Fitzgerald. Seriously, if someone had told me that I would befriend him a couple months ago, I would have laughed in their face. I still don't comprehend how all of this happened. Well, I mean, I have a theory; I am only attracted to guys who are the complete opposite of me. There was KC, then there was Eli, and now…. Fitz? I told myself many times that I _do not _like Fitz in that way, but ever since the night of the concert, I've been blushing more and more when he looks my way.

I don't know what is becoming of me.

I zipped up my jacket to my neck and stuffed my hands into my pockets. The school day had finally ended and I was heading to the parking lot to meet up with Fitz. My boots crunched the snow as I stepped across the clearing and saw Fitz leaning against his truck. The roads are too slick and it's too cold to be riding his motorcycle anymore. He saw me heading toward him and he straightens himself and smiles. I feel the temperature in my cheeks rising. But I could pass of my rosy cheeks as a result of the snow outside. I smiled back and started walking a little faster to him.

"Hey," I said to him as I approached. His smile widened.

"Hey you," he responded.

"Oh my gosh," I said, once I noticed what he was wearing, "You must be freezing!" Fitz was wearing a t-shirt with jeans and no jacket. He shook his head, his grown out hair sticking to his forehead.

"It's a guy thing. It's like we're impervious to cold," he grinned. I giggled.

"But seriously, we should get going before you're arms fall off from frostbite," I said. I stepped toward the car door when Fitz stopped me.

"Wait, one more thing," he said. His hands pulled mine from my pockets and head them, warming them with his body heat. His fingers intertwined with mine and I gripped his strong hands. I looked back up into his eyes and saw a sudden look of desire, the way they looked the night of the concert. I almost drew back in surprise, but found that I couldn't move. I was frozen in place. His lips curled up into a soft smile. Then he stepped closer to me, closing the small space between us. His face only inches from mine, he stared into my eyes profusely. Then he loomed closer and closer until I could feel his lips warming mine. It wasn't a particularly passionate kiss, or a possessive one. It was a quick and sweet kiss. It lasted only a couple seconds, but it felt like years in my mind. His face drew back from mine and I was disappointed when the cold came back to bite at my face. I wanted to grab his face and keep on kissing him because he was just so warm. But I knew that would most likely scare him off, or would it?

Before I could act on this sudden impulse, he spoke.

"You just looked so kissable, I couldn't resist," he said. I bit my bottom lips and smiled. Then he let out a long sigh and released my hands.

"Well, we should get going. I am getting a little cold now," he smiled. I was still a little stunned by the kiss so all I did was stare after him as he crossed over to the other side of the truck to the drivers side door. I smiled to myself and I turned around to open the door, but I caught sight of something out f the corner of my mouth and I turned my head too look. And what I saw made my heart drop all the way to my feet.

Eli stood at the other end of the parking lot with his car keys dangling in one hand. He had the other hand resting on the hood of Morty, ready to enter the hearse. But he had stopped his movements. He stared straight back at me with a sad look on his face.

_He had seen the kiss._

My lips parted and my mouth was left agape. He looked like he didn't believe what he had just seen.

His black hair was swishing in the wind as his face was frozen. He was wearing his military style black jacket over his khaki pants. He had on a red scarf that was loosely tied around his neck. It was flowing out behind him as the wind continued to blow. His dark figure looked extremely appealing contrasted with the white snow falling around him.

I could look at him a second longer. I turned my head back to the car door and opened it, hauling myself into the truck and slamming the door behind me. I breathed deeply once I settled myself into the interior. I squeezed my eyes shut and forced the sudden tears that sprang to my eyes not to shed.

"You alright?" Fitz asked from beside me. I opened my eyes and looked over at him. He was rubbing his palms together to warm up. I forced a winning smile.

"Perfect," I said convincingly. He grinned back at me and started the truck. He backed out of the parking spot and drove out of the Degrassi lot and onto the road. We had been driving in silence for a few minutes when he finally reached his hand for the play button on his CD player. Little Lion Man by _Mumford & Sons _washed over the car and caused me to relax a little. I closed my eyes.

_And it was not your fault, but mine  
__And it was your heart on the line  
__I really fucked it up this time  
__Didn't I, my dear_

My eyes snapped open as I connected to the lyrics of the song. Lately, I had been feeling really guilty about breaking up with Eli and I convinced myself that it was, indeed, my fault that things were like this. I wasn't willing to put up with him, but why? He had asked me not to give up on him and I did. I had been feeling horrible about breaking my promise to him. He told me that I was the only thing that made him feel that he could get better and I took that away from him. What if he didn't get better because of me? What if he went back to his old ways and didn't throw things away anymore? No, that wouldn't happen. Eli is strong and he can handle things on his own, or so I told myself. But I really didn't know. Eli is a really messed up kid and he needs someone, and not just Adam.

He needed me, and I kicked him to the curb.

_Tremble Little Lion Man  
You'll never settle any of your scores  
Your grace is wasted in your face  
Your boldness stands alone among the wreck _

I let the words of the song sink into my skin and plague my mind for the rest of the ride back to my house.

_How could I have been so selfish? _

Fitz pulled up to my house and I unbuckled my seatbelt. I muttered a thank you and placed my hand on the door handle when Fitz put an hand on my shoulder. I turned back to look at him. He looked at me with a certain intensity that I had seen on his face before, but when?

Just then, his hand slipped from my shoulder, up my neck, and cradled my face. Then he leaned forward and kissed my sweetly. This one lasted longer than the one in the parking lot. He pulled away after thirty seconds and looked at me.

"Again, couldn't resist," he said quietly, smiling. I smiled back at him.

"I'll see you tomorrow," I said and quickly got out of the car. I ran to my front porch and turned around. I saw the Fitz was still staring after me. I gave him and smile and a wave. He waved back and put the truck back in gear. He slowly pulled away from the curb and disappeared down the road. I turned back around and quickly got into my house and out of the cold. I shucked my jacket off my shoulders and hung it up on the coat rack. I surveyed the living room and kitchen area and found that no one seemed to be home. I shrugged and headed up the stairs into my room.

Once inside, I closed the door behind me and slammed my fist onto my dresser in frustration. Why had I let all of this happen? Since when had I become such a bitch?

I crossed my room, over to my bed, and picked up my covers and threw them onto the ground. Then I took both my pillows and chucked them across the room. I groaned in anger and sadness as I turned to look back at my bed. There was something lying where my pillow had resided on my bed. It was Eli's guitar pick necklace.

I tried to remember if he had given that to me or not. I couldn't. He never took that thing off. But there it was, lying there in my room. I picked it up and dangled it in front of my face. I inspected it. It was heavier than I expected it to be.

It was then that I realized when he must have left it; the night he stayed over. It could have come undone in his sleep, but I found that somewhat unlikely. It was lying perfectly under my pillow, like he had meant to put it there.

I noticed something else about the necklace. On one of the sides of the guitar pick, there was something inscribed. The letters were jagged and sharp, like Eli had carved them himself. But I held it closer to me so I could see what the letters said:

_E & C_

Oh my God. Eli and Clare.

How had I not noticed this detail before. I had seen this necklace on him so many times and I hadn't seen this. But maybe he only wore it so the blank side was showing.

He had once said that he had gotten this necklace when he was ten years old. It was a gift from his grandfather who had passed away months later. It was the last gift he had gotten from him. I can't believe that Eli did something so permanent to something that was so important and treasured to him. Needless to say, I felt a million times worse.

I pressed the necklace to my chest, ignoring the cold metal against my bare skin.

I felt like I was stuck in a dark tunnel, lost and confused. I needed to find the light at the end and run toward it, but no matter how much I tried, I couldn't find the light.

**xx**

"Another day. Another nightmare," Fitz mumbled at he took his keys out of the truck's ignition and slumped back in his seat.

"Are you going to live?" I asked sarcastically. He looked over at me and smiled. Then he sighed and opened his door. I did the same and my feet landed on the snow. I shut the truck door and walked to the back of the car. We were back at Degrassi for another day of school.

Fitz appeared from the other end of the truck and leaned against the back of it like I was doing. It was then that I saw the faint bruising on his left cheek. I reached up to touch it and he flinched.

"What happened?" I asked, afraid of the answer. He looked back at me and pleaded me with his eyes not to make him answer. He knew that I already knew.

"Your parents," I answered myself quietly. My hand dropped from his face.

"Why are you refusing help?" I asked.

"Because I don't need it. I can handle things myself," Fitz told me defensively.

"It's not right," I said quietly. He shrugged and let out a long breath. He looked out over the parking lot of Degrassi, surveying the students hanging out by their cars.

Suddenly, there was the sound of screeching tires. I looked quickly over Fitz's shoulders and saw a white car skidding it's way down the parking lot. The pavement was covered with slick snow and this car didn't have chains on its tires. The car was gaining speed rapidly as students dove out of the way to avoid it. Screams erupted from the crowd of people in the parking lot.

"Look out!"

"Move!"

"Oh my God!"

The car was coming toward us, but I knew that it wouldn't hit us. I turned my gaze so I could see if everyone had cleared out of the way, but there was one dark haired boy with his noise canceling headphones on walking slowly across the parking lot. My heart lurched as I saw that the car was headed straight for him at a great speed. But Fitz reacted before I did.

Fitz broke out into a sprint, almost slipping on the snow, and heading right for Eli. Fitz grabbed the back of Eli's black jacket and yanked him backward. Just as Eli fell on his butt into the snow, the car screeched by him, just missing his feet by a couple inches. The car moved along and plowed right into the tall chain link fence ahead. The sound of metal scraping against metal pierced my eardrums. The airbags in the car deployed. The fence looked like it was going to topple right over, and it did. Unfortunately, there were people standing just on the other side of that fence, and it landed on them. More screams, some of pain, broke out in the crowd. I saw Mr. Simpson race out the front doors of Degrassi and run toward the wreckage.

"Someone call 911!" someone shrieked. I was stunned into silence. Had that just happened?

I turned my gaze back to Fitz and Eli, who was still sitting in shock on the ground. They were staring at the toppled over fence and the people scrambling to get out from under it. Then Fitz turned to Eli.

"Here, man," he said, holding out his hand to help Eli up. Eli eyed him suspiciously, wondering if he really should take his hand.

"Come on," Fitz said, grasping Eli's hand himself and pulling him to his feet. The back of Eli's jeans were covered in snow, so he brushed his hands over them, sending the snow back to the ground. Once Eli was done, he looked back up at Fitz.

"Um, thanks," Eli said awkwardly. Fitz patted him on the back.

"No problem, bro," he said. And he smiled. At Eli.

I didn't know what to be more shocked about.

* * *

So, Fitz saved Eli's life, hmm? Whatever could this mean? Well, I guess you'll have to find out in the **FINAL **chapter. I've had a fun time writing this story, but I never meant for it to be this long.

So, another question that will be answered in the next chapter, Eli or Fitz?

Chapter fourteen will be up sometime this weekend. I've got a lot going on, so I don't know when I'll finish it for ya'll. Sorry to leave you in suspense!

_P.S. _While I was writing the car crash scene, I couldn't help but be reminded about _Twilight_. Ha-ha! Aww, Fitz is Eli's Edward! (I find that slightly disturbing..)


	14. Tunnel pt 2

**A/N**: This chapter was the most fun and sad one that I have written in this whole story. Well, I guess it should be since it is the last one. This story has been so much fun to write and I absolutely love all of the feedback that I have gotten on it! I will continue to write more multi-chapter stories. I have two in the works at the moment for Degrassi. I also have another one-shot that I plan to finish today as well.

Anyway, here is the final chapter!

* * *

_Fourteen  
_Tunnel pt. 2

xx

The steady pinging of the machines next to me do nothing to calm my nerves. I look down at my best friend lying limp in a hospital bed. I'm clutching the lifeless hand as my tears soak their arm. I am glad that there is no one in the room to see me cry.

My head falls to their chest and I heave sobs uncontrollably. I'm almost scared that a doctor is going to come busting in here to see if I'm hurt. And in a way, I am.

I still can't believe that this happened. I guess it's just another unexpected Degrassi tragedy. Seriously, why do the students insist on causing the most bazaar things to happen on school grounds?

My tears soak into their hospital gown but I don't care. I never thought that _this_, of all things, would happen to me. I clutch their hand tighter, so tight that I think I may break bones, but they're not conscious to feel the pain. The doctors say that they might not regain consciousness, _ever_.

At that thought, I start screaming. I don't care who hears me. I scream because I'm sad. I scream because I'm mad. I screaming because if I don't, I might explode. I start saying their name in between screaming sobs, trying to wake them up. But they don't. And maybe they never will.

The door to the hospital room busts open, but I don't turn to see who it is. I'm to busy trying to wake my best friend up.

"Clare," a masculine voice says behind me, but I don't respond. I keep on screaming and crying. But then I lift my head from their chest, getting impatient, and grasp their shoulders. I begin shaking them, calling their name. A pair of hands grasp my upper arms and yank me away from my best friend. I start screaming louder, uncontrollably. I can't help it, I'm really upset. The person wraps their arms around me from behind, pinning my arms at my sides.

"Shh," they whisper in my ear. I finally give up on trying to wriggle my way out of their arms and let my head fall forward. My puffy red face is masked by my messy tangles. My screaming halts and I just cry.

"It's going to be okay," they say to me, but their voice cracks when they say it, like they're crying too. I try to come up with a response, but find that I couldn't form coherent sentences if I wanted to. They let go of me and I fall to my knees. I hold my head in my hands and sob. I can't stop.

"Come on, Clare," they say. I feel them kneel down beside me and grab one of my tear stained palms. They help me to me shakily to my feet and wrap their arm around my shoulders. They turn me around so I can't see my best friend lying in a coma on a hospital bed. I lean my head against their body and continue to sob. They lead me out of the room and drop their arm from my shoulders. I press my back up against the wall next to the door and slide down to the floor. I hug my legs to my chest and rest my face on my knees. I can feel the person looming over me. My sobs have quieted down, but they're still there.

The person kneels down in front of me and tilts my face up. They then brush my curls out of my eyes and I can see the dark haired boy in front of me.

"It's going to be alright Clare," Eli assures me, but there is a hint of doubt in his voice. His eyes are red-rimmed.

"How do you know?" I ask him. He purses his lips and his forehead creases, like he's going to start sobbing.

"I don't," he says and hangs his head. His shoulders start shaking up and down and I know he's crying, but it's silent.

"He could die," I say quietly. Eli lifts his head back up and looks at me for a moment. My heart twists even more at the expression Eli gives me. It's of pure sadness. I have never once seen him look so overcome with sorrow. A tear rolls down his cheek and my heart rips in two. He moves to sit down beside me in the empty hallway.

"I still can't believe it," he says quietly. I turn my head to look at him.

"Me neither," I say. I lean my head against his shoulder and bury my face into his black jacket. His hands finds mine and our fingers intertwine. The feelings that we have over our break up are put on hold. Our best friend is lying in a coma in a hospital bed.

Adam might never wake up.

**xx**

I stared in shock at the sight of Eli and Fitz standing together, and Eli thanking Fitz for saving his life; a life that Fitz once threatened to take. Then I looked behind them and saw the wreckage that the car had caused. The car skidded across the parking lot of Degrassi and plowed head on into a thirteen foot tall chain link fence, causing it to fall over.

Screams were still sounding in the crowd and a police siren could be heard in the background. People had been under that fence when it felt and some were still scrambling to get out from under it. But some were lying motionless under the weight of the fence.

Being the saint that I am, I ran over to the sight of the accident to see if I could help. Fitz and Eli called after me, asking me to stop, but I didn't. I came to the end of the fence and saw that some of the people had crawled there way out from under it, but there were others that weren't so lucky.

A police car and an ambulance drove into the parking lot, their sirens deafening my eardrums. One of the police officers ran over to the drivers side of the car and opened the door. The girl inside the car was hunched over on the wheel, unconscious.

"Get a gurney over here," the police officer called over to the ambulance. The medics from the ambulance pulled a gurney from the back and rolled it over to the car. The medics pulled the girl out from the car and I saw that it was Chantay Black. I didn't really know her but I knew that she used to be on the Power Squad. Blood was pouring from her nose and she had a cut on her forehead. But she didn't look too beat up. She was strapped to the gurney and hauled back to the ambulance, which speed away to the hospital. More ambulances made their way into the parking lot and the medics were rushing over to the fallen fence.

I looked down at the people caught under the fence and saw a familiar beanie.

"Adam!" I cried. He was lying motionless under the fence. His left arm was bent at an unnatural angle and there was blood pooling from his mouth.

"You need to step away miss," someone said from behind me. I kept on screaming Adam's name.

"Clare, what-" Eli trailed off, looking down at Adam. Both him and Fitz had come over to me to see what I was screaming about. A pair of arms wrapped around me and pulled me into a tight embrace.

"Come on, Clare. We've got to get out of here," Fitz told me. I looked up at his face.

"I have to make sure Adam's okay!" I shouted and tried to pry myself from his embrace, but he was too strong.

"Clare, I'm sure the medics will take care of him," Fitz said. But I still needed to know if he was okay. I started slapping at his arms which were binding me to him, but he seemed unaffected. I looked over at Eli who was standing next to us the whole time and saw that he was staring down at Adam in disbelief.

"Adam!" I screamed again. I fought against Fitz's hold on me, but he continued to hold strong. That was when I started crying.

"Is she alright?" a medic saw me and asked Fitz.

"Yes," Fitz told him and the medic eyed me for a moment, probably contemplating if he should give me a sedative to calm me down, but decided against it. He nodded and jogged over to help pull the victims out from under the fence.

"Come on, I'll drive you to the hospital," Fitz told me. I was still trying to get to Adam, but I was starting to get tired. I soon gave up and cried against Fitz's chest.

"Shh, come on. Let's go," Fitz told me and started leading me over to his truck. His arm was tight around me. He looked back.

"Are you comin' Eli, or what?" he called over his shoulder. I looked back and saw that Eli was still standing by the fallen fence. His eyes were still glued to Adam, unsure of what to do.

"Come on Eli!" Fitz called to him. Eli's head snapped up and met Fitz's gaze. He stared at him for a moment. I could see tears forming in his beautiful emerald eyes. Eli nodded and started walking slowly toward us.

At least Fitz was calling Eli by is name and not 'emo boy' anymore.

Fitz led us over to his truck and we all climbed in, me in the middle. The ride to the hospital was silent.

I kept picturing Adam's body lying under the fence.

'I hope he'll be okay,' I thought to myself. But I had some doubt that he would.

**xx**

I have been sitting in the waiting room of the hospital for what seems like forever. Every minute goes by in a hour. The ticking of the clock seems to slow down and stop entirely. I'm sitting in an uncomfortable chair after my outburst in Adam's room and trying to calm myself down. The doctors almost had to sedate me after I had another breakdown in the hallway. Eli had done all he could to calm me down, but it hadn't worked.

Suddenly, a hand is on my back, rubbing up and down and sometimes massaging the back of my neck. I'm hunched over and holding my head in my hands. I have finally stopped crying, but now I'm just silent. I can't seem to talk to anyone. People ask me questions like 'Are you alright?' but I just stare at them, not even nodding or shaking my head.

Eli is sitting next to me in the waiting room keeping me company. Fitz went down to the cafeteria to get us some snacks about five minutes ago, leaving Eli and me alone. Eli keeps telling me, and maybe himself, that Adam is going to be okay. But I'm still unresponsive.

"Adam is strong. He'll pull through this, Clare," Eli tells me. I don't even lift my head to look at him.

"It'll all be okay, you'll see," he continues. This time I look up at him. I turn my face from my hunched position and just look at him. His hair is a mess and still wet from the snow. His jacket is unbuttoned and his red polo is wrinkled. His headphones are hanging from around his neck. I also notice that his eyes are bloodshot and his lip is quivering. I almost burst into tears again at the sight of Eli like this.

I straighten myself and continue to just look at him without saying a thing. Then, unexpectedly, I throw my arms around his body and pull him into an awkward hug, considering the armrests between us. But I don't care. I can't stand seeing him like this.

His hands reach up and clutch my back and my arms wrap around his neck. He buries his face into my shoulder and I rest my chin on his shoulder. I rub his back and notice that his chest is heaving up and down under mine. He's crying.

My shoulder becomes wet with his tears and I hug him tighter.

"Shh," I say, uttering my first sound in hours.

"What if he doesn't make it?" Eli asks, his question muffled by the fabric on my shoulder. He has been staying strong for me this whole time, and now it's time for me to be strong for him. Adam and Eli are closer than Adam and me. It seems that Eli has given up on being hopeful. I want to take back all of the doubtful things that I have said about Adam because Eli is probably hurting worse than me.

"He's going to wake up, Eli. He will," I assure him. He clutches the fabric of my jacket in his fists and sniffs.

"He's my best friend. He can't die," Eli says sadly. A tear rolls down my cheek as I try to hold myself together for him.

"I'm know," I say. I run my fingers through his damp hair, smoothing down the strands that stand up all over his head.

"He's not going to do that to you," I tell Eli. He lets out one last sob and lifts his head from my shoulder and pulls his arms away from me. He looks at me and I almost die of heartbreak. Eli's cheeks are wet with his tears and his eyes are puffy and red. His cheeks are tinted pink and his lips are still quivering. He forces a small smile and I force one back. His eyes travel down from my face and his face drops when he sees my neck. He reaches out with his hand and picks up the guitar pick necklace that hangs around my neck instead of his.

"You found it," he says.

"Why did you leave it?" I ask him. He drops the necklace and looks back up at my eyes.

"I wanted you to have it," he answers.

"But your grandfather gave you this. I thought that it meant a lot to you," I say.

"You mean a lot to me," he says.

"But I hurt you, why would you give this to me if I hurt you?" I ask. He smirks.

"It's going to take a lot more than you yelling at me for me to stop loving you," he admits.

"You still love me?" I ask.

"Yes, do you still love me?" he asks. I bite my lip.

Did I still love him? I'm pretty sure I did. I mean, you can't just fall out of love with someone just like that, right?

But what about Fitz? Sure, I like him, but do I care enough about him to give up on Eli? It's wonderful being with Fitz and kissing him isn't too bad either. I love hanging out with Fitz and we always have a great time, but is it love? What had driven me to get in Fitz's car or on his motorcycle? What had driven me to make out with him, with us ending up half naked? Was it love or lust?

Fitz's hands felt wonderful against my skin, but they didn't send electric shocks through my veins. His kisses were warm and pleasant, but they didn't cause fireworks are make me see stars in my closed eyes. His presence next to me was nice, but I didn't want him to stay there forever. Not like the way it is with Eli. Not at all.

As much as I didn't want to admit it, everything I had done with Fitz had been because I knew it would make Eli mad. I mean, the friendship with Fitz was real, but the romantic potential wasn't there. I was pissed off at Eli, so I set out make him jealous. I was driven by lust with Fitz. And I was sure that Fitz didn't love me, not like that anyway.

Just as Eli asked me that, the sun appeared from behind the thick clouds out the window we were in front of and cast a golden glow on the waiting room. I looked at Eli and saw that there was a golden ring expanding the edges of his head. He looked like some sort of fallen angel.

Then, I realized what it meant. Ironically, Eli is my light in the darkness. I am still trapped in this long dark tunnel, but finally, Eli has shown me the light. He is the one who is suppose to help me out of the darkness that has cast over my life. The light has been there all along, and I was just too stubborn to see it.

Which is why, in answer to his question, I say, "Yes."

His lips curve up to form a smile, the first one I have seen in a long time. He leans over and kisses me quickly. He leans back and smiles even bigger.

"It feels good to be able to do that again," he says, still smiling. I laugh.

"I know," I say.

"I've got the snacks," Fitz announces as he heads back into the waiting room. He's holding up three mini bags of chips. He sees Eli and I and he narrows his eyes.

"Did I just interrupt something?" he asked. I smile.

"It's fine. Come on," I say. Fitz smiles.

"Hey, you're talking again," he comments. He surprises me by sitting in the seat next to Eli, and not next to mime, where he had been sitting before. He tosses two bags of chips onto Eli's lap and Eli hands one to me. I open the bag and look over to Eli and Fitz. Fitz then does something even more shocking than when he saved Eli's life. Fitz pats Eli on the back and squeezes Eli's shoulder in a comforting manner. Fitz doesn't make fun of Eli for crying. He doesn't insult him or anything.

"I'm sorry man," Fitz tells Eli. My body freezes and I stare at them. Eli just smirks.

"Yeah, me too," Eli says. Then Fitz pats Eli on the shoulder one more time and picks a chip out from the bag and eats it.

"Whoa," I mutter under my breath.

"What was that?" Eli asks. I look up at him and smile.

"Nothing," I say. I smile as I eat the rest of my chips.

_No longer cold  
Or feeling in trouble  
I realize that I am just alive...  
So let it shine  
'Cause we are the light in the tunnel _

**xx**

I grip Adam's hand while Eli grips my hand. I stare down at Adam's pale face. It's been three days and he is still unresponsive. The doctors are losing hope, along with everyone else.

Hot tears roll down my cheeks as I pray to God not to take Adam from us. I look over to Eli and see that he also has tears on his face. I look back at Adam and my hope starts fleeting even more. He looks dead.

Just then, the once lifeless hand that I am holding twitches. I gasp and look down at the hand.

"What?" Eli asks me.

"He just-" I start, but I'm stunned into silence when his hand squeezes mine. Eli sees this too and sucks in a breath. We both look back up to Adam's face and see this his eyelids are fluttering.

"Adam?" I ask quietly. His eyelids open completely and they look upon the ceiling for a moment, then he notices Eli and me.

"Hey," Adam croaks. I'm so overcome by happiness that I start laughing uncontrollably. I laugh so hard that tears of joy spring to my eyes.

"Oh my God!" I cry as I squeeze his hand harder. Eli is laughing along with me. Adam, however, looks horrified.

"What the hell is wrong with you guys? And what's wrong with me?" he asks curiously. But I can't answer him. I'm too happy! Eli pulls my face to his and kisses my cheek in excitement.

"Ew guys, get a room," Adam says, disgusted. But I don't care.

Adam woke up.

* * *

Epilogue?

I think yes!


	15. Epilogue: Scores Left Unsettled

**A/N**: Wow, I'm so sorry that this took a bazillion years to update. I was preoccupied with other stories for a while there. I know I promised an epilogue a while ago. Well, here it is! I hope all of you have enjoyed this story because this has by far been my most popular one. I love all of the feedback that got on this fanfic!

So, without further ado, I present the last part of **Mess of Me**!

* * *

_Epilogue  
_Scores Left Unsettled

_xx_

The scent of my freshly brewed vanilla latte fills my nose. My eyes flutter closed and I lean my head back to breathe in the wonderful smell deeply.

"I know I smell good, but jeez woman," the voice of my boyfriend, Eli Goldsworthy, chimes into my thoughts. My eyes snap open and I turn my head to face him. He has that lovely smirk on his face. I try to contain the butterflies that start up in my stomach. But I have no such luck.

"Shut up," I say, smiling. I slap his arm playfully and he draws back like my touch scorched his skin.

"Ouch, abuse much?" he says, putting on a fake pouty face. I giggle and turn back to the table in front of me. I lift my cup of coffee to my lips and take a small sip. The hot beverage warms my chilled body. The weather outside is dipping just under 10 degrees. I set the coffee back down on the table and I hear a soft chuckle beside me.

I turn to see Eli smirking again about God knows what. I give him a questioning look and he just chuckles louder.

"What?" I demand. I reach up to touch my cheek to see if I had anything on my face, but I didn't feel anything. But instead of telling me what he was laughing about, Eli showed me. He lifts his hand and swipes his index finger over my upper lip, clearing off the excess whipped cream from my coffee. Then, without hesitation, he lifts his finger to his own lip and sucks off the whipped cream. My face burns multiple different shades of red. I avert my eyes from him and I hang my head, looking only at the latte in front of me.

Eli chuckles again and he drapes his arm over my shoulders. I sigh at the smell of his cologne and lean my head again his chest.

"You do know there are other people at this table," Adam says, obviously annoyed.

"Sorry Adam," I say to him.

"I'm not sorry," Eli growls into my ear and takes my earlobe in between his teeth. I yelp and jump a little bit in his arms. I hear Adam groan and I look over at him. He's been looking a lot better these days. The accident had been two months ago and we had all recovered from our physical and mental traumas.

"Oh, come on, Adam. I think they're so cute," Fiona Coyne says to her boyfriend. If it hadn't been for Fiona, I don't think Adam would have recovered as fast as he did. She asked as 'nurse' for him when he was released from the hospital and hot him everything he needed, like food and new comics because for a while he couldn't get out of bed due to his massive painkiller intake. Today is the first day that Adam felt well enough to step out of the house and we all decided to celebrate by going to the Dot.

"Ugh, don't encourage them, babe," Adam tells Fiona. She giggles and scoots closer to Adam in her chair.

"A little PDA never hurt anybody," she says. Fiona leans toward Adam and gives him a small peck on the cheek. Adam's face turns bright red and he tries to hide it, but we all saw. Adam reaches up with his casted forearm and scratched his head nervously. Fiona giggles and leans her head against Adam's shoulder.

"I'm with Fiona on that one. Eli and Clare are super cute, almost to the point where I feel horrible that I don't have a boyfriend," my best friend Alli says beside me. I look over at her and smile. He had just recently transferred back to Degrassi after her stay at an all-girls school across town. She thought that she could handle the 'not boys' thing, but it turns out it only drove her more insane. I'm happy to have her back.

"Well, I'd have to side with Adam," Fitz says from across the table next to Adam. Things between Fitz, Adam and Eli have gotten better. They don't fight, well… physically, anymore. Things have been a bit awkward between Fitz and me ever since the night of the A Day to Remember concert. As horrible as it sounds, I still haven't confessed to Eli that I made out with Fitz and ended up half naked. I felt like he would be really mad since we haven't even gone that far yet. And plus, things are going really well between Eli and me and I don't want to mess it up.

"You're just jealous," Eli says to Fitz sarcastically. I draw in a sharp breath and tighten my muscles as I prepare for a snide comment from Fitz's side. But surprisingly, Fitz brushes it off and smiles as Eli.

"Oh, of course," Fitz says just as sarcastically. But the look that Fitz sends me tells me that he might only be half kidding. And in an effort to keep myself from falling apart, I smirk at Fitz and his smile grows wider.

"How are things with your dad?" Adam asks Fitz. Fitz gives me one last wink and turns to Adam.

"Well, I called the cops like Clare suggested and I've been living with my brother for the time being," he tells him. A few short months ago, I found out that Fitz was being abuse by his father and he had been keeping a secret. But one night, he came over to my house for help and of course I gave in. He denied any help for a while for fear of making his father even madder. But after a huge fight between the two which landed Fitz in the hospital for a short stay, he decided to end it.

"That's really good, Fitz," I say to him. He looks back at me and gives me a look that I don't quite recognize.

"Yeah, well I don't have to live in fear anymore," he says. Ever since his father has been out of the picture, Fitz has gotten a lot nicer. Oh, he's not a complete sap or anything, but he's no longer beating people up. He confessed to me one day that he used violence to cope with his father issues. And let me tell you, the new Fitz is a fun person to hang around. Even Eli and Adam are realizing this.

"I can't even imagine what that must have been like for you," Alli says from bedside me. She's using a voice that know all too well; her flirty voice. Oh, God _no_.

"It was pretty tough," Fitz says, looking at her weirdly, like he doesn't know why she is talking to him. Today is one of the first official interactions that Fitz and Alli have had.

"Oh man, 4:00 already?" Fitz says, looking at the clock on his phone. He pushes his chair back and slaps down the money for his coffee on the table.

"I've gotta go. My brother wants me to help set up the new TV," he informs us.

"Need some extra help?" Eli asks him.

"Nah, man. You enjoy your date," he winks at us, but his gaze is fixed on me, "Thanks anyway though," he says and puts his phone back in the pocket of his dark-washed jeans. We all tell him goodbye and he nods back at us.

Then Eli drops his arm from around me and leans forward on the table to discuss the newest issue of a comic they're reading. Then Fiona and Alli start talking about this new store downtown that they want to check out. I kind of feel left out and I awkwardly sit there between Eli and Alli. But then I feel a cool breath tickle the back of my neck and I jump slightly. The person chuckles quietly.

"I'll pick you up tonight, Clare," Fitz whispers into my ear so low that only I am aware. My eyes grow wide and I sit frozen for a moment. Then I whirl around in my seat to say something to Fitz, but he's no longer there. I look around the Dot and I don't see any sign of him. I try to convince myself that I'm going insane, but then I see his face from the other side of the front window. He is staring straight at me and he smiles. I want to give him a dirty look, but I find that I can't for some reason.

I look away from the window and turn my attention to the people at the table in front of me.

"Hey, Clare," Alli says into my ear, "Is that Fitz guy seeing anyone?" she asks. My veins clog with ice and my breathing stops. Is she serious? Well, Alli does have a thing for bad boys (i.e. Johnny and Drew the player). But… Fitz? Really?

Wait a minute! Why do I care? Why should I care who Fitz or Alli dates? Especially Alli. But something about that combination makes me want to burst out laughing because I know for a fact that Fitz would never go for Alli. No offence to Alli or anything, but she just isn't his type.

"I don't think so," I say nonchalantly. Alli nods.

"Well, he is super cute. And he's one of those damaged boys, like Eli is. I feel like I should help him," she tells me.

"Yeah," is all I have to say to that. Seriously, what is wrong with me? Why does my chest all of the sudden feel tight? Why do I feel mad? I don't want to admit it, but I know exactly what I'm feeling. But it just can't be true. I don't like Fitz like that. I have Eli, and he's all I need. But why am I feeling something that I never would have thought I'd feel towards Fitz:

_Jealously_.

Just as I was having this internal dilemma, my phone vibrates in my pocket. I fumble to pull it out and flip it open to reveal my newest text message.

**Fitz  
**_This isn't over.  
__There are still some scores I need to settle with you.  
__;)_

_

* * *

_So I'm thinking about doing a sequel... I don't know. What do you guys think? Reviews would be wonderful!

I'd like to thank everyone that stuck with this fanfic from beginning to end! You guys are all **dope**! (Haha, omg Munro!)


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